Profiling and Painting
by AyaWinchester
Summary: Dr. Spencer Reid is a genius working with the FBI. Keller is a struggling artist, who dropped out of school at sixteen. Under normal circumstances it's likely the two never would have met. But with a serial killer in the area and Keller as his primary target, Spencer and the BAU must protect her at all costs.
1. Chapter 1

_**A/N:**_ Just wanted everyone to know that is is my first Criminal Minds fanfic. Updates will most likely be sporadic as I do not have that much time to write, but from reviews I've gotten on other stories I have written in the past, I hope the content will be worth the wait. I may get information wrong which I'm sure is true for any author, and I'm very willing to listen to criticism and advise from fans of the show and use it in my writing. I do not own any of the CM characters that will be mentioned besides the ones of my own creation. I hope everyone enjoys what I have to write and please, favorite, follow and review. Thank you and enjoy.

* * *

 **Keller**

* * *

Waking up was never fun for Keller, she'd been sleeping on a shitty fifty-dollar-a-night motel bed for the past month, with a very loud prostitute doing "business," in the next room. She wasn't exactly annoyed at the moans and banging that kept her up most of the night, more the part where she hadn't gotten laid in two months and the rough fucking she got wasn't even worth telling anyone about.

Sitting up in the bed, Keller pressing her hands into the small of her back and leaned back until she heard and felt the popping of joints. Sighing when that did nothing to relieve the soreness that had settled in, Keller, swung her feet out of bed and stood. She thought about showering, but for the past week nothing but icy water was available and the manager of the run down motel was dragging his ass, refusing to fix it until he got more business than whores and their dates.

Pulling on one of her three shirt options, and a pair of skinny jeans with rips in the knees, Keller shoved her hands in her pockets, ready to grab breakfast and begin her day of going to all the bars in the city, hoping to find someone willing to pay her for singing or playing guitar in the corner, so she could continue to sustain her existence. But all she found was forty-seven cents and pocket lint. "Fucking Hell!" Keller shouted kicking over a folding chair and running her hands through her jet black hair, trying to think of where she burned up the last of her paper money. She always made sure she had at least fifty dollars so she could keep staying in this shit pit rather than on the street... Again.

Keller scratched her head as she mentally ticked off all the things that had happened last night. She'd gotten paid two hundred dollars for performing at a small bar when the manager's first choice bailed for a sweeter gig. Tried to buy some drinks at the bar before she left, but the bartender saw through her fake ID, saying there was no way Keller could be in her twenties and it was true, she was a eighteen year old high school drop out, trying to sell her paintings, which was her true passion, but buying good art supplies, such as paint, canvases, brushes, sketch books and easels was expensive as all fucking hell, while buying an old used guitar and learning to play was cheaper. Once the bartender told her to fuck off, she went outside to see if she could catch a ride back to the motel.

Unfortunately for her the only guy who didn't look like a rapist was a huge prick and said he'd give her a ride... If she would let him watch her fuck his buddy. Keller rudely declined his offer and began the six mile walk back to the motel, with their lewd comments and drunken laughed echoing after her. When she was two miles away, stumbling from patch of light given off by flicking street lamps, to patch of light, a chick on a motorcycle pulled up along side her.

"Looking for a ride, sug!?" She yelled over the hum of the bike.

"Oh, my fucking, god, _yes!"_ Keller called back, stumbling over, the only pair of shoes she owned were black boots with a three inch heel and walking in them all day did _not_ do her feet any favors. She'd ridden on motorcycles before and even owned one for a few months before she had to sell it to pay for rent, and easily climbed on behind the driver.

"Safety first, sug!" The first rider said, reaching around behind Keller to pull out an extra helmet from the back compartment, her hand brushing against the opening of Keller's jacket pocket.

 _That's when that bitch did it!_ Keller thought. _Or I dropped it somewhere along the way... s_ he reasoned with herself, sighing. _Looks like it's back under bridges for a while._ Grabbing her room key, Keller grabbed her leather jacket and pulled the hood over her head, knowing her short hair was probably spiked all all sorts of awkward directions, and plastered to her head in others, her only concern being that she had her hair styled in a way that it obscured the view of the left side of her face. Exiting the room, Keller was about to use the rear entrance, so that she didn't have to confront the front desk worker, and answer his daily question of "Where's my money?" Or, "If you can't pay you'd better bend over." Which Keller had done a few times in the winter, she reasoned that letting that horrid beast on top of her was better than losing her fingers or toes to frost bite. The choice haunted her every time she had to go up to him and watch the way his cold eyes roamed over her, or the sick way he grinned when she did have quite enough cash.

But as she shut the door a plain white envelope that was pinned to her door caught her attention. _Maybe he's kicking me out, before I can do it myself._ But upon pulling the pin out and holding the envelope in her hand, Keller found that the contents were far to heavy for a simple eviction notice and went back inside her room to view whatever this person had left for her.

Putting the chair she'd kicked back on all fours, Keller dumped the contents of the envelope onto the table, only to have hundred dollar bills spill across it and onto the floor. Keller sat dumbfounded for minutes until she got up the nerve to pick up a bill, hold it to the light and make sure that it was real, she did the to several other random bills until she was sure this wasn't some prank to get her arrested for counterfeit money.

Her mind working in overdrive she quickly began counting, and found she was no longer dirt poor but had twenty-five thousand dollars. Keller thought of the people who would be this kind to her. No one. Who could have this much money in cash? A drug dealer. Or the hooker next door perhaps?

They had bumped into each other a few times since Keller had been staying in the motel, sometimes they even talked. Their last meeting had been a week ago and had resulted in the prostitute showing out her latest client and having Keller collapse in her doorway. The John had asked what Keller was strung out on, but prostitute whose name Keller found out that night, was Misty, shooed him away and pulled her inside of her room.

The room of a whore looked just like Keller thought it would, clothes were thrown all over the floor, beer cans covered the table, the bed sheets were covered in a variety of stains that Keller didn't want to think about and she was sure she noticed handcuffs attracted to the headboard.

"When was the last time you ate something?" Misty asked from the doorway as she pulled several locks into place.

"I don't know, maybe four days ago." Keller slurred through the haze of exhaustion.

"Slept?"

"I'd sleep a fucking _lot_ better if you weren't fucking screaming and banging your headboard against my wall every fucking night!" Keller snapped. Who did this slut think she was questioning Keller's health? She was an adult, and she could take care of herself. Mostly.

"Seeing as you can sass me, I think you'll be OK." Misty chuckled, Keller hadn't noticed but Misty had prepared two sandwiches, she had taken a bite out of one and was chewing slowly and was holding the other out to Keller, who hesitantly took the offering, lifting a bread slice to check the contents. A simple PJ and J that Keller wolfed down like she hadn't eaten in days, which she hadn't. Misty laughed and made Keller one more, before giving her a bottle of water and sending the younger girl on her way.

Keller sat at her table with tears in her eyes, she had no idea how to approach this situation, Misty was still sleeping, Keller knew she didn't begin her days until around six in the evening, and a simple thank you wouldn't be enough. Keller had no idea what type of food Misty liked out what she did other than her "work." But she could not squander this gift, no one had every been this kind, her father was never in the picture, her mom merely slept with some guy at a party, rolled the dice when he refused a condom and lost. She never really cared about Keller, leaving her alone for hours on end once Keller learned to use the microwave and could cook her own meals.

Pulling a small duffle bag out from the bed, Keller packed up what few clothing options that she had, the money, and all the snacks and drinks from the minibar, taking one last look at the small room she'd called "home" for a few months Keller raised both her middle fingers and walked out, hoping never to return to this place.

Going up the the front desk Keller was greeted with the shrewd worker there who leaned over and glared down at her, "Gonna give me your payment in five's and one's again? Or shall we head to your room for some more one on one time?" He said with a smirk.

Keller glared back up him and slammed her room key and two hundred dollars down on the desk, "Fuck you, asshole. I won't be staying here any longer."

As Keller was walking out the front door, the desk clerk finally dug his tongue out of his throat and shouted at her back, "Good riddance!"

 _Good riddance is right,_ Keller thought, looking up at the clear afternoon sky, that reflected her mood. Calm, controlled, with this new sense of confidence, the sense that nothing could get in her way, Keller walked down to the train station and bought a ticket to New York City, she didn't know what she'd find there, but it was better than here.

Her train wasn't scheduled to leave until shortly after ten in the evening, and she still wanted to thank Misty properly, at least in some way. Having four hours before she had to be on the train, Keller decided that she would indeed have time to pick up something for Misty, present her with the gift and if she hurried be back to the station before her train left.

Checking in her bag to pull out a bill from the envelope, she made a few stops on the way back to the motel, and ended up hauling a large vase full of white and pink flowers, a thank you card, a stuffed bear and a personal sized cake.

It was dark as Keller hurried back to the motel to say goodbye to Misty, but in the distance she could make out the red and blue flashing lights of police cars. _Son of a bitch! What if Misty robbed someone and gave me the money so she could let me take the fall?_ But then again in this part of town it wasn't a rare occurrence to have cops around.

Walking over the crest of the last hill, Keller's heart dropped when she saw the lights were indeed in front of the motel, but is wasn't just police cars there were ambulances as well, with paramedics and cops running about. She thought about turning back, getting on the train and getting the hell out of this town for good, but curiosity get the better of her and as if being pulled she slowly walked down the hill and stood among the crowd of people that were gathered around trying to get a look inside the motel.

Keller gasped as a pair of paramedics walked by with a gurney, the body was covered but blood was seeping through the white sheet and as they loaded the stretcher into the ambulance, the arm of the victim fell from under the sheet and Keller stood there shell shocked as her eyes zeroed in on the charm bracelet, though she'd only seen in once she knew who it belonged to in an instant. It was Misty. An officer began shooing people away from the scene, and when he made an attempt to push Keller away from the taped off area she grabbed his arm and forced him to look at her.

"W-," Keller struggled with the words, but finally forced them through the lump in her throat. "What happened to Misty?"

"Is that what that sluts' name was?" The cop asked, seeming not to care in the least about "that slut," was not so long ago an living person.

"Yes, you fucking pig!" Keller screamed at him. "Who did this to her?"

"We don't have any leads, but whoever did this, was once sick bastard," The officer replied, jerking his arm out of Keller's grip. "Now run along home kid, what happens to a prostitute is no concern of yours."

Keller glared after his retreating back, but turned and left the scene, roughly swiping at tears that began falling from her eyes, she didn't have a choice, she couldn't help Misty now, and she couldn't miss her train out of this town. The train swayed as it sped down the tracts, Keller couldn't sleep, anytime she closed her eyes all she saw was Misty laying beneath a bloody sheet. She' given the little cake to a child she passed at the station and the flowers to and elderly man who could afford a bouquet for his wife. The bear however was clutched in Keller's arms, she toyed with the little red satin bow at it's neck and stared into it's lifeless glass eyes.

At some point she must have dozed off, at least for a few minutes, for when she lifted her head she could see the shining lights of the city in front of her. She couldn't help but smile through the shock she'd felt this evening, and held the little bear close. "Almost there."

* * *

 **Keller: Present Day**

* * *

It had been four years since that night, Keller was sitting on the railing of her apartment's balcony looking out over the city lights. A chilly early spring breeze was blowing through the city and she shuddered wanting to stay out, but knowing it was too cold to do so. "Hey, Misty," Keller whispered as she walked from her balcony, to her room. Glancing at the little bear that was propped against her pillows.

The bear's red ribbon was now longer as shiny as it used to be, and the ends were tattered with age. Keller had given the bear shortly after moving into this little apartment, a little reminder of the person who may very well saved her from a life of squalor.

Going down the hall to the bathroom, Keller quickly stripped and kicked her discarded clothing into the corner. For the past two years, she'd been working in the city, traveling a bit as well, opening for large bands, Keller didn't make a lot but she got enough from shows to support herself, and selling cheap art on the streets helped too. After her long shower where she scrubbed every inch of her pale skin, Keller sat at her vanity table, and combed through her black locks, strategically covering the left half of her face, and leaving the rest to air dry naturally. She slid dangling inverted cross earrings easily through her lobes, altogether she had sixteen piercings, six in one ear, eight in the other, and two in the right corner of her lip, with one ring that curled through both holes.

Looking at her face in the mirror she debated the color scheme of her make up, and decided to just do around her right eye, using black, silver and blue eye shadow to make it pop. With her hair covering the left eye Keller felt no need to make up that eye as well and went to her closet. Tossing her towel over the back of her chair to dry, Keller shiver as her wet hair touched her spine and icy droplets of water slid slowly down her back.

Pulling out a black dress with a white rib cage on the front and a red rose where her heart would be, Keller set in on the bed got a matching lace set of undergarments. Dressing herself, Keller grabbed her purse and tossed in anything she might need for the night, except that she couldn't find her phone. Keller groaned and began her daily search, she was always losing the damned thing, and it always turned up in the oddest places.

Keller was crouched down looking under her bed, when her ring tone could be heard from the kitchen. Lifting her head up carefully so she didn't hit it against the bed frame... again, Keller ran out to see who was calling.

"This is unrecognized talent," Keller answered with a grin, knowing who was called from the caller ID.

"Hell's bells, Kells! I've been calling for like twenty minutes," The woman on the other end said laughing.

"You could have come up, Shea. You do have a key," Keller reminded her friend, they'd met in a bar when Keller first came to the city, argued over bands, and a month later were best friends and often performed together, with Shea as a guitarist and Keller singing.

"Shut it, punk. Hurry your little ass down here, we gotta go!" Shea demanded, hanging up the phone.

Keller tossed her phone in her purse and adjusted her hair once more before slamming the door behind her and locking it. Shea was waiting by the door to the apartment building her little car parked on the curb.

"Fucking Christ, Kells, it sure takes you long enough to get ready," Shea complained as the girls climbed into the car.

"The concert doesn't start for another hour and we are the second act, we got time," Keller said.

"Whatever you say, Rock Star," Shea chuckled, pulling away from the curb and off to their destination.

"Show time," Keller whispered.


	2. Chapter 2

**Spencer**

* * *

Is was a little after nine when the BAU team started meandering into the debriefing room where Hotch and J.J. were waiting to give them their next assignment. Spencer was still waking up and was holding a large cup of coffee, until the contents were gone, this was his most prized possession. Sitting in his usual spot at the round table, between Prentiss and Morgan.

"What kind of fresh hell have you got for us today?" Morgan asked, getting comfortable in his chair.

"Over the past eighteen months six young women have gone missing," J.J. started.

The screen behind her lit up with the faces of the women she was referring to, "All of them were between were in their late teens and early twenties, the youngest being seventeen. Oldest twenty four," Hotch added.

"The bodies found all had signs of sexual assault and torture," J.J. continued, the screen switching from smiling women to the dump sites of the bodies.

Reid cringed a little, even from the photos he could see the extensive torture inflicted upon them, "The first body was found two months after she was reported missing, then five months, a few weeks, then eight months, then only one month and then another girl was found two days ago, only nine days after she was reported missing."

"That's an odd pattern for a serial killer, are we sure that it's the same unsub?" Reid asked, slightly suspicious, most serial killers had set patterns which they followed meticulously.

"We believe so, while the time the unsub keeps the victims fluctuates, there are things that remain constant. They are all young petite girls, white, with black hair and blue eyes," J.J. explained.

"What's up with that last girls face?" Morgan asked, Reid had noticed that the left side of her face looked like someone had attacked her with a cheese grater.

"I was getting to that. It's another constant between the victims, in some way or another our unsub has blinded them in their left eye. The first victim, the coroner said it looked like the eye was torn from her face, two others were stabbed in the eye which was the cause of death, and Bethany Harris, the victim the unsub kept the longest, had her eye burned, with what appears to be a blow torch, she was still alive and from the healing that took place it happened within the first few months the unsub had her."

Morgan shook his head, and Prentiss sighed next to him. "Sick bastard."

"NYPD had called us in to take the case," Hotch announced, "Another young girl, fitting the unsub's type went missing yesterday. We leave in thirty minutes."

Spencer went to his desk, and slung his go bag over his shoulder, along with his brown leather messenger bag and scurried off to get on the jet that was waiting to take them to NYC. The flight was only going to be about an hour and Spencer was still waiting for his daily dose of caffeine to kick in. Maybe he'd sleep while the flight was in progress. He didn't have any new books to keep him occupied, and Gideon was no longer around for him to play chess with.

The plane landed and Reid was shaken from his nap by Morgan, "Rise and shine, Sleeping Beauty."

"Shut up," Spencer grumbled back, yawning and stretching.

Getting his things together, Spencer exited the plane with everyone else, though he trailed slightly behind the group. There were two giant black SUV's waiting for them and Reid climbed into the first one that he came too. Hotch got in the drives seat, Morgan and Prentiss in the back.

Crawling through the streets as they hit the mid day traffic rush, Spencer for the third time in twenty minutes read threw the case file, he already had the words memorized but was still looking for correlations between victims. "Is there any other connection to these girls that we may have missed?"

"Garcia is looking into it, but so far, black hair and blue eyes is the only thing any of these women have in common," Hotchner answered shutting the vehicle off and stepping out in front of one NYC precinct.

"You know, people with blue eyes only account for seven to eight percent of the world's population," Reid rattled off the information. "To have a dominate gene like black hair and a recessive one like blue eyes both present is exceedingly rare."

"And yet, he's found six women right here in New York that fit the profile," Morgan added.

Reid pressed his lips together and squinted up at the building, there were plenty of people milling about, and Hotch pulled out his badge as an officer approached to introduce himself to them. Hotch did a round of introductions as well, Spencer nodded when he heard his name, and pulled his hand back when the officer attempted to shake it.

"Do you have anymore information on this serial killer?" Hotch asked getting right to the point.

Officer Giorgio led them all into a small conference room, "So far about the same as you, we haven't found any DNA at any of the scenes or on the bodies, all fit the some description, small stature, dark hair, light eyes. Stunning girls," Giorgio added as an afterthought.

"Any of the women have anything else in common other than appearance?" Prentiss asked.

"Not that we've found," The officer answered. "The last girl though, he only kept her for a week, her hair wasn't naturally black."

"That might have something to do with the unsub," Reid blurted.

"How do you figure?" Morgan questioned, looking at Reid.

"Think about it, the unsub is going after dark haired women, he finds out this girl isn't naturally dark haired he gets rid of her sooner," Reid explained.

"So what should we tell the public, bleach your hair and where dark contacts?" Giorgio asked, chuckling, but stopped in an instant when Hotch pinned him with a stern and unamused glare.

"No, we'll profile the killer first, maybe it'll give us an idea if his victims have a deeper connection," Hotch explained. "In the meantime; Reid, you and Morgan go check out the latest crime scene. Prentiss and I will interview family members of the victims."

The team split up, making plans to meet back at the precinct in an hour to discuss what information that they found. An hour later, Reid and Morgan didn't come up with much other than the unsub didn't care if the bodies were found or not, dumping them in places where they'd be found in days or even hours.

Hotchner and Prentiss didn't gather much either. They found out the latest victim was naturally blonde, and on the night of her abduction had been going to a rock concert with friends.

As they relayed the new discoveries to the NYPD, Garcia called Morgan who hushed the room and put her on speaker. "You're on speaker baby girl, so watch your mouth."

"Are you going to punish me if I don't?" Garcia asked.

Morgan threw up his hands and shook his head, a few officers snickered.

"Anyway," Garcia chirped, knowing she'd embarrassed herself, "I found that there were four separate music events the night the last victim went missing."

"Can you narrow it down to which one the victim might have gone to?" Hotch asked, loud enough that the phone on the table could catch his voice.

"Way ahead of you, they weren't all concerts per say, but there was one band that turned up with each victim the day they were kidnapped," Garcia explained.

"Name?" Morgan prompted.

"A band, where the singer calls herself Nexus. I did some digging, but not a lot of info, Nexus is probably just a stage name, her music is pretty punk rock, she's twenty two years old, black hair, beautiful blue eyes and from online pictures she always has the left half of her face covered. She's also opening for a more well known band this evening, sending the address to you now."

"You're the best, baby girl," Morgan said, smiling as he shut his phone.

"Young, black hair, blue eyes," Reid mumbled to himself, "She could be the true target of our unsub!"

"Right, if the unsub is abducting girls from her shows, it could just be a warped fantasy. So he grabs any small young girl who resembles Nexus, keeps her until he realizes that they aren't the girl he really wants and dumps them," Morgan added.

"Garcia said, she doesn't show the left side of her face, that could have something to do with way the unsub destroys their left eye. Nexus could be blind in her left eye and he's trying to hold onto the fantasy that these girls are her for the longest amount of time," Hotchner mused aloud.

"Should we get a profile ready and have J.J. get a press conference ready?" Reid asked, his mind already spinning with answers for any questions the press might ask.

"Yes, but first let's go find Nexus, she should be brought in for her own safety, if the unsub can take girls from such a public place as a concert, he might start getting bolder and go for the real target soon," Hotch said. Pulling out his phone, he memorized the address Garcia had texted everyone. "Reid you're with me."

"We don't even have tickets to this show, how are we going to get in and get close to this girl to tell her what's going on?" Spencer asked.

Hotch gave him one of his, _You can't be that dumb,_ looks and walked past him, leaving Spencer to hurriedly grab all his things and run after Hotch who was already out the front door of the precinct and halfway down the stone steps.

"Show doesn't start for another two hours," Hotch mentioned, "Should be enough time to cut through the crowd, get in, find the girl, explain the situation and hopefully she'll cooperate and leave with us."

"And if she doesn't?" Spencer asked.

"We assign a guard to her," Hotchner said simply.

Hotch obviously didn't know what type of crowd they'd be dealing with, they were forced to park three blocks away and walk up to the stadium. There were hundreds, maybe thousands of people milling around, making it incredibly hard to cut through the throngs of people.

They finally got close enough to see a ticket stand and approached, Hotch even shoved a few people out of his way, showing his badge did nothing, some people said it was a fake so he could get backstage and meet the bands. "I need to get in," Hotch said sternly to the African American lady behind the separation glass, who rolled her eyes and pointed to downward to a sign that read _SOLD OUT!_.

"You don't understand, a girl's life may be in danger," Hotch explained, pulling out his badge and holding it up for the woman to see.

"Mm-hmm! You know how many "FBI agents" I see, try an' get in here? Enough! An' I know a fake ass badge when I see one!" The clerk shouted.

Hotch glared at her, and was about to say something when the crowd surged forward, there were gates at one entrance to keep people away from it. A large bald headed man in jeans and a black shirt walked out and leaned against a concrete wall, and a young girl with black hair, followed behind him.

"Who is that?" Reid asked, standing on the tips of his toes trying to see over the crowd.

A man a little younger than him had stopped and was digging through a backpack, before he pulled out a silver sharpie and a poster. "What the fuck do you mean "Who is that?" That's Nexus. Hottest woman alive."

When Reid's expression remained blank, the boy rolled his eyes and bounded through the crowd to get closer to Nexus. "That's our girl," Hotch said. Looking over the crowd as well. "We need to get up there and tell her what's happening."

Reid nodded and he and Hotchner jumped into what seemed to be a shark tank. Reid was getting shoved in all sorts of directions as people tried to get there things signed, more people had come through the door, making the crowd more ferocious. Reid was about three rows from the gate when someone hit him especially hard and he stumbled to the ground. For these people only one thing was important, getting signatures, Spencer found that out quickly while being stepped on and over.

"Hey!" A clear, high voice called out over the crowd, cutting through the noise. "Out of the way!"

People began to move to the side, and Spencer uncovered his head from beneath his arms, and looked up into a stunning blue eye that demanded his attention.

"Are you OK?" The girl kneeling in front of him asked, in a voice like silk.

"I, uh, I'm, ahem, I... Yeah," Spencer stuttered, unable to form a coherent sentence, let alone a thought as this girl looked into his eyes. Long black hair fell around her in a dark veil, long enough that in the crouched position she was in the ends touched the concrete.

Nervously she tucked her hair behind her ear and chuckled a bit, "People can get a little crazy, huh?"

Spencer cleared his throat and nodded, still finding his voice, he had to tell her. Tell her that she was in danger. That there was a serial killer after her. She grinned and stood, extending her hand to him, Spencer took it without a second thought and let the girl haul him to his feet, once he was standing upright, he easily dwarfed her, being a little over six foot tall, the top of her head didn't even reach the top of his chest and Reid could tell by the shoes she was wearing that she was two inches and a quarter inches shorter.

"Sure you're gonna be alright? No broken ribs, or internal bleeding?" Nexus asked.

"I'm, um, ahem, I'm fine," Spencer stumbled over his words, but she didn't seem bothered by it, her lips quirking into an easy grin, and the lights glinted off of the ring looping through the right side of her lower lip.

Spencer smiled back, and lifted his head up when he saw erratic movement, Hotch was signaling him to escort the girl over to him so they could explain the situation.

"Hey, Nexus! You gotta go back in!" The guard who escorted her out yelled.

"Be right there!" She called back, turning.

"Wait! I have something to tell you!" Spencer blurted. "My name is Spencer Reid, I'm with the BAU," Reid began.

"Kells! Come on, punk! We're on in ten!" A woman called, leaning over the divider.

"I'm sorry but I have to go," Nexus said, spinning and going to the rail, where she easily places her hands on the top bar and swung herself onto the other side.

"W-wait a minute!" Spencer called, rushing forward. He made a move to grab her arm, but, a guard placed a hand in the middle of his chest and pushed him back.

Nexus wasn't to far away and came back up to him, "Wait until after the show and come find me."

"I, um, I'm, s-sorry, but, I, uh, can't do that, I need you now," Spencer stuttered.

Nexus worried her bottom lip for a moment before looking back up at him, as the other women yelled, "Kells, hurry your sweet ass up!"

"I have to go," Nexus stood on her toes, grabbed him by the tie and yanked his lips down to hers. Her lips were soft, the kiss was hard, and Spencer couldn't do anything but watch as she bounded away, her friend cackling as she closed the door behind them.

Once they were safely inside, the rest of the doors opened up and everyone with tickets went in. Soon it was the normal NYC crowd walking about. Hotch came over, with an annoyed look. "What the hell was that, Reid?!"

"I... don't know," Spencer admitted, looking down at his shoes. "Should we wait?"

"No, we don't know when this thing will get out, how long before Nexus will leave or if they'll sneak them out after the show. We'll go back to the hotel. Call Garcia, tell her we may have a first name, for our potential victim."

Spencer walked a few feet back from Hotchner, knowing the older man was angry with him, "You have reached your technical goddess, speak and be heard, mortal."

Spencer almost smiled, "We might have a first name for Nexus. Another woman called her Kells."

"Kells? That's it?" Garcia retorted irritably.

"What?" Spencer asked.

"That's probably a nickname of something. Do you know how many Kelsey's or Kelly's there are in New York?" Garcia asked.

"No," Spencer said.

"Really? Huh? Something Reid doesn't know," Garcia mumbled.

"Let me know what you find," Reid hung up and climbed silently into the black SUV. When they got back to the hotel he went to his room that he was sharing with Morgan and got ready for bed.

"You get the girl?" Morgan asked, looking up from his computer.

"Almost," Reid muttered.

Morgan snorted, "What does almost mean?"

"Well, we found her, but I tripped," Reid answered.

Morgan burst out laughing and Reid sighed, "You busted your ass and let the girl get away?"

"Sort of," Spencer replied.

"Sort of?" Derek got out from his guffaws.

"Yeah, she helped me up, and when tried to explain who I was, she had to go. She even kissed me," Spence muttered to himself, touching his finger to his lips.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! This girl kissed you?" Morgan asked.

"Think is means something?" Reid questioned, once again more to himself than to Morgan.

"I think we need to find this girl before our unsub does," Morgan responded. Back to business, but Reid was sure that once this case was over he'd ask all about the kiss.

* * *

 **Keller**

* * *

Shea was still getting ready in their little dressing room. Keller was sitting on a table spinning a bottle cap between her fingers.

"Bored?" Shea asked, eyeing Keller in her mirror.

"Little," Keller mumbled back, "I'm'a go out and sign some stuff, come get me when it's time."

"Take that sexy body guard with you," Shea ordered.

"Why? He's your type not mine," Keller teased.

Shea had a thing for big muscled men, the bigger the better, and if they were bald, well that was just icing on Shea's cake. "Shut it, and have him go out with you, there are some freaks hanging around lately."

"Fine," Keller relented, walking out of the dressing room. At the end of the hall there was the guard Shea had mentioned. "Will you go outside with me?"

The man nodded and led the way to a private exit and entrance, he opened the door for her and Keller forced a smile as the crowd surged forward and pressed against the barrier separating the crowd from her. On the inside she wanted to go hide in the dressing room until the concert was over and she could go home and paint or watch TV. _Just smile and be friendly_ _._

Keller wandered from side to side, taking posters and CD's, signing them and handing them back. Members from other bands she would be playing with tonight had also followed her lead and came out to interact with their fans as well, making the crowd even wilder. Glancing up and turning her head to the left, she saw a tall gangly man the shoulder length brown hair, tucked behind his ears, trip and fall. Knowing how dangerous a crowd of people could potentially be she went to the edge of the rail.

"Hey!" Making a separation motion with her hands the people in front of her gave Keller a confused look, "Out of my way!" A few people glared at Keller but scooted to the side regardless. Hopping over the rail, Keller kept moving through the people until she was kneeling down in front of him.

The man looked up at her nervously, as he dropped his arms from round his head, his greenish-brown eyes widened when he looked at her and she grinned. He had the most adorable deer caught in the headlights expression Keller had ever seen. Keller took a quick inventory of him, he was wearing a button down shirt, with a... sweater vest? Those fucking fashion disasters were still a thing? But on this man it seemed to fit. He looked like the kind of guy Keller would have beaten up in school. If she'd went that is.

"Are you OK?" Keller asked as he continued to start at her, with his mouth partially open. Keller was getting worried someone may have stepped on his head.

"I, uh, I'm, ahem, I... Yeah," The man stuttered.

Keller giggled watching him fidget nervously, brushing her hair back behind her ears, "People can get a little crazy, huh?"

The man coughed a little and nodded, but didn't verbally respond. The stone beneath her knees was starting to make her legs ache, standing up, Keller extended her hand down to the man who was sitting on the ground, without hesitation he took it, Keller internally smiled as his hand completely engulfed hers, with the long, thin fingers of an artist, and pulled him to his feet. Her eyes widened, as she looked up at him, she could tell he was going to be tall, but hot damn! Did he need to make her feel like she was a fucking midget? Her head wasn't even at his shoulder and she was wearing three inch heels!

Keller pushed her internal distress to the side and went back to the man in front of her, "Sure you're OK? No broken ribs? No internal bleeding?"

"I'm, um, ahem, I'm fine," The man stammered, Keller grinned at his nervousness, thinking that his little stutter was sweet.

Keller noticed the determined set in his jaw and was about to ask what was wrong when, the guard called out to her, "Hey, Nexus! You gotta go back in!"

"Be right there!" Keller called over her shoulder.

"Wait! I have something to tell you!" The man shouted, stutter gone. "My name is Spencer Reid, I'm with the BAU," He started.

 _The fuck is the BAU?_ Keller though, she was about to verbalize the question when Shea's voice broke through the crowd, "Kells! Come on, punk! We're on in ten!"

 _Shit!_ "I'm sorry but I have to go," Keller excused herself, walking quickly back to the divider and swinging herself back to the other side where Shea was waiting by the door.

"Wait a minute!" Keller turned to see the man being shoved back by the guard.

Going back to talk with him for a moment Keller said, "Wait until after the show and come find me."

Keller knew he'd be waiting half the night, but she had to go. Maybe if he stayed they could go back to her place, maybe his and who knew what would happen then. Keller did think this guy was cute, in a nerdy way. And that dimple in his chin made her want to pounce.

"I, um, I'm, s-sorry, but, I, uh, can't do that, I need you now," He whispered urgently.

Chewing her lower lip, Keller debated quickly. There was no way that she could leave with him, bring him back stage maybe? Keller was about to ask if he'd want to hang with her, but Shea's voice once again interrupted Keller's thoughts. "Kells, hurry your sweet ass up!"

"I have to go," Keller said and did the only thing she could think of in that instant. Getting up an her toes, Keller leaning over the dividing rail and grabbing onto the man's tie, pulling him the rest of the way, Keller crashed her lips into his. This close she could smell coffee and something citrusy, maybe lemon or even orange, her stomach had a swarm of butterflies fluttering about, but she lowered herself down and forced herself to walk over to Shea who was smiling like that stupid fucking cat from Alice in Wonderland.

Shea shut the door behind them and slung an arm around Keller's shoulders, "What was that?"

"What?" Keller played dumb.

"You know damn well what! That kiss? With that stick figure?" Shea demanded.

"No _p_ e," Keller responded.

"Well, while you were putting the moves on that boy, I happened to notice he had a gun," Shea informed Keller.

"Really?! What the fuck for?" Keller asked.

"How should I know?! Maybe you should ask your boyfriend?" Shea teased, ruffling Keller's hair.

"What's BAU?" Keller asked Shea, she was good with acronyms.

"Bad, apples, unicorns," Shea said in a serious tone.

"Not a joke, he said he was part of if," Keller said,

"I don't know, we'll look it up when we go home," Shea answered. "Right now, you have to go sing."

Keller nodded and taking a few deep breaths trying to calm her nerves and went out on the stage with Shea right behind her.

Back at the apartment Keller and Shea were sitting on Keller's couch with a laptop in front of them looking up what BAU meant. "Behavioral Analysis Unit," Keller read.

"Huh? Toothpick is with with the FBI?" Shea asked, taking the laptop and reading silently.

FBI? What the hell did the FBI want with Keller?


	3. Chapter 3

**Spencer**

* * *

In the morning Reid was woken up by his phone ringing, "Garcia?"

"Mornin' sugar pie!" Penelope was far too chipper this early in the morning. But when Reid's eyes caught the time, it was one twenty six in the afternoon. Why hadn't Morgan woken him up?

"Did you find something on a Kells?" Reid asked, swinging his feet out of bed.

"Nothing," Garcia responded. Then why was she so happy?

"Alight, talk to you later," Reid was about to end the call when Garcia told him she wasn't done.

"I didn't find anything on a "Kells," per say. But! I did some snooping and get this, Nexus is a last name. More digging and you've got yourself a Keller Nexus," Garcia sounded quite pleased with herself. Reid was pleased with her too.

"Address?"

"Sending it to you now," Garcia said and hung up, before Reid could thank her for her work.

Taking a quick shower, and getting dressed, Reid met up with his team at the NYPD precinct around two thirty. "'Bout time you showed up, pretty boy," Morgan greeted him, smirking.

With Reid now present, Hotch gathered all the NYPD officers and was ready to give them a profile. "We are looking for a white male, between ages twenty to thirty. His target is young girls, who from what friends and family have told us they are into the punk rock type scene. Which means this man may also dress this way. All of his victims have been kidnapped from public places indicating that he is either very skilled in abducting them or is charming enough to lure them away from friends. Maybe offering rides if the girls have been drinking."

"Alcohol isn't allowed at these concerts, why do you think they'd be drunk?" An officer asked.

"You've never snuck a flask into a venue?" The woman sitting next to him teased, punching him lightly in the shoulder.

Morgan continued with the profile, "He most likely lives close, but outside the city, he keeps the girls for indefinite amounts of time before he grows tired of them, so he'd have to be in a rural area, not a lot of neighbors, so no one can hear the girls scream while he rapes and tortures them."

Reid's turn, "We also have reason to believe that these girls aren't his real target."

"Why do you say that?" An officer in the back interrupted.

"Because we've found that all victims were taken from concerts, where a girl with the stage name Nexus was performing. She has black hair, blue eyes and fits the profile for the unsub's victims. The bodies all had one other thing in common, their left eye was damaged beyond repair in some fashion. Nexus keeps the left side of her face covered at all times so we are speculating that she may be blind in that eye."

Prentiss stepped in next, "We think he is infatuated with her, she's the one her truly wants, but he can't get close, or these girls are just practice for when he can. He goes to these concerts to see her and when he can't get her, if he doesn't already have a victim, he takes girls who resemble her, until they no longer can hold up the fantasy he's created. The girls who he kept the shortest amounts of time were naturally blonde or brunette, most likely their roots began to show, breaking the facade that they were Nexus so he disposed of them."

Hotchner took over once again, "Be on the lookout for anyone who seems out of place, he'd be standing farther back from the crowd, watching, looking for their next potential victim."

With the profile given, J.J. made some calls and scheduled a press conference for the net day, to warn the public. After what happened yesterday, Reid was a little nervous about approaching Hotch, but gathering up his courage he went over and talk him what Garcia had found. "Let's go talk to her."

Without much to do the whole team, excluding J.J. climbed into the black SUV parked out front and drove to the other side of the city. Next to the apartment building was a little coffee shop that Reid was dying to go into.

"What do we do now? Knock on every door, until we find our girl?" Morgan asked.

Reid was about to make a comment about how they could check mailboxes or see if there was a call button, but someone familiar caught his attention. There was a young woman, with red hair, holding a tray with two coffees in it, walking back to the apartment building. She'd been with Nexus last night. Her roommate? Reid followed after her quickly, with his team close behind, "Hold the elevator, please!" Reid called.

Her hand pulled the doors open and she looked up at him with bemused dark brown eyes. "Hey, you're that dude from last night!"

"Uh, yeah," Spencer replied, not sure if he liked being called a "dude".

Hotch, Morgan and Prentiss were behind him, and the redhead chuckled, pointing at Hotch, "Is that your dad?"

Hotch didn't look happy, "No, I'm Agent Aaron Hotchner from the FBI BAU, this is Dr. Spencer Reid and Agents Emily Prentiss and Derek Morgan. We are here to speak with a young woman named Keller Nexus. Do you know what apartment is hers?"

"What do you want Keller for? Is this because she kissed Toothpick last night?" The woman asked, Reid could tell from her posture and the defiant tone of voice hat she was very protective of her friend.

Reid could feel Prentiss' eyes on him, and Morgan stifled a chuckle. "We think she is the target of a suspected serial killer."

The woman blinked up at Reid with confused eyes and stepped out of the way of the elevator door, the team climbed on with her. "I'm going up to see Keller now." She hit the button for the top floor. "I'm Shea, by the way. Shea Ross."

The ride was quiet and a little awkward but Reid stood as still as possible not to draw too much attention to himself. The elevator shook to a halt, and the doors slid open, Shea got out first and led them down the hallway there were two doors on opposite sides but the large window at the end of the hall Shea was walking down had an excellent view of the ocean.

"Ocean view! My kind of girl," Morgan said.

Shea passed the tray with coffee to Reid, who debated stealing a sip from one of the cups, and pulled her keys from her purse, unlocking the door, she motioned them inside. The apartment was neatly decorated, with light gray walls and a mix of paintings, some vibrant and full of color and life, others with black and white.

"Hey, Shea! That you?" A voice Spencer could never forget, even if he wanted to, yelled.

"Yeah!" Shea called, "I brought coffee!"

"You're the best," She called.

A door swung open and banged against the wall, Reid startled a bit and bumped into Morgan who chuckled at his jumpiness. A woman with shiny obsidian black hair, all but ran across her kitchen and snatched one of the cups.

Morgan choked behind him and both he and Hotch averted their gaze, it took Reid a moment to figure out the odd behavior from the older men but he soon realized what was causing them to act so strange.

The girl wasn't wearing pants! Reid blushed crimson, and turned his gaze the a painting on the opposite wall. But the image was burned into his brain, and he was certain that even without an eidetic memory he'd have been able to recall every detail. Behind his eyelids Reid could still see her standing there holding a steaming cup, her hand on her hip, wearing a red lace bra and panty set, with a black button down shirt, that hardly covered her backside, only the center most button with done, giving everyone in the room a perfect view of her flat belly.

Shea was chuckling, and Reid glanced at her nervously, the girl was looking at her in confusion, "What? I get foam on my nose?"

Shea pressed her finger against her cheek and pushed until she was looking at Reid. "I remember you. We sort of met last night."

Reid's heart was hammering in his chest, she was smiling so sweetly, she looked like a little angel as she leaned up against her counter. "Yes, ahem, um, yeah, w-we did."

Taking a sip of her coffee, she waved her finger around in small circles as she tried to think of something, "Spencle, right?"

Morgan laughed behind him and Hotch cleared his throat, "I, um, i-it's Sp-Spencer, actually. Spencer Reid."

"I was close," she defended, grinning, setting her coffee cup down, and holding her hand out to him, "I'm Keller."

A sudden bemused expression came across her face and she dropped her hand before Reid could shake it, looking down at herself she pressed her lips together and let out an awkward chuckle, "I'm also not wearing any pants."

Reid scratched the back of his head and shook his head at her.

"Well this is a great second impression to have with FBI agents," Keller mumbled. Holding up both index fingers, she turned and walked out of the room.

Shea smiled and lead them over to a little sitting area that had three couches of varied sizes and patterns and two armchairs, that were turned in a way that face a large tv hanging from the wall, and the seat Reid took, faced a large window. "Keller is quite the character," Shea said, catching Spencer's attention.

"How'd she know we were FBI?" Hotchner asked, getting to the point.

"Spencer told me last night," Keller answered, she was still wearing the black shirt, but had done up a few more buttons and had a pair of leggings on with a white diamond pattern going down one leg, while the other was solid black.

"I-I did?" Spencer asked.

"I remember you mentioning something about BAU," Keller came up behind him and jumped over the sofa to sit next to him. "Didn't know what the fuck it was. Shea said it stood for Banana Apple Unicorn. But we looked it up."

"Smart," Morgan commented.

"She tries to be, and it was bad, not banana" Shea quipped.

Keller stuck her tongue out at her friend, before turning to Hotch who was sitting across from her, "So, what does the FBI want with me? Are you going to tell me there's some crazy killer after me?"

"Yes," Hotch deadpanned.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Back the _fuck_ up! I was joking! There is some whack job out there coming after me?" Keller looked at everyone in the room, landing on Spencer last and glaring at him. "Why didn't you tell me last night?"

"Th-that's what I was there for," Spencer mumbled.

"Do you know who it is?" Keller asked Hotch.

"Unfortunately not. But we do know whoever it is has kidnapped and murdered six young girls, who all look strikingly similar to you," Hotchner explained.

"Are you blind in your left eye?" Reid blurted.

Keller shifted uncomfortably and gently bit her lower lip before answering. "Why?"

"This person is damaging these girls eyes enough that they wouldn't be able to see. Which is why we think he's after you, we did some research on you and there are no photos anywhere of you showing your left eye," Prentiss said.

The BAU gave Keller the profile though from her stiff posture and the way she'd pulled her legs up to her chest, Reid wasn't sure she was paying any attention to them. Shea kept shooting Keller worried looks, but Keller avoided eye contact with everyone in that room.

"I can't believe it's happening again," Keller whispered so low that Spencer was sure he was the only one who had heard what Keller had said.

"I'm sorry. Again?" Spencer asked. _What did she mean again? Had the unsub found Keller before? I'll have to have Garcia look into the unsub's M.O. and see if there were similar murders in other cities._

"It's not important," Keller said.

"If something like this has happened around you before, it could be pertinent to this case. It could potentially mean that the unsub has been after you longer than we thought," Hotch pleaded, wanting the information Keller was refusing to give.

Keller glowered at Hotch and Reid leaned away from her. He'd seen that look before, when killers were cornered and went down shooting, his hand itched to grab the gun holstered at his hip, "No, it's not important! It happened years ago and I don't want to talk about it!"

Lunging to her feet Keller retreated to her room, slamming the door behind her with a loud crash.

"Wow, I haven't seen her that mad in two years," Shea mumbled, breaking a heavy silence that had settled over the room.

"How long before she cools down?" Morgan asked.

"From my experience with Keller, anywhere from a few minutes to a few months," Shea explained, standing up and stretching. "But, I say we should go get coffee, and come back in an hour or so to see how she's doing."

Everyone stood and made for the door, but Shea stopped Spencer before he could even take two steps. "You stay?"

"Why me?" Reid questioned, baffled.

"Keller likes you, I can tell, and I've tried to get her to open up to me before, but she's got a lot of walls around her, and she's keeping a lot of hurt inside them. Maybe you can get her to tell you some things she won't share with me," Shea told him, her look was pleading and she glanced at Keller's door. "Give her a few minutes and then knock."

She shooed Prentiss and Morgan out, Hotch had left as soon as the door was opened for him, "And a word of advice, you want anything out of Keller, you'll have to give something of yourself first."

 _Give something of myself? What did Shea mean by that?_ Spencer tossed to idea around in his head while he paced around the little apartment.

* * *

 **Keller**

* * *

To say she was pissed was an understatement, Keller paced back and forth around her room. "What happened to Misty wasn't my fault. Was it?" Keller looked at the stuffed bear on her bed, hoping that somehow it would answer her, telling her this was some drunken dream. Why would some serial killer be infatuated with her? _Must be crazier than the average psycho._

Climbing onto her bed, Keller picked Misty Bear up and looked into her glass eyes. Kicking her feet under the covers Keller made the decision to sleep through the rest of the day, Keller was just beginning to settle in and get sleep when a small tentative knock put her on full alert, and her previous annoyed attitude came back full force. "Go away, Shea!" Keller growled, flopping onto her right side, and pulling the covers over her head.

"It's, um, it's Spencer," A small, nervous voice said.

Keller debated cursing him out, and telling him to get the fuck out of her house. But this wasn't entirely his fault, he and his team were here for her, they only wanted to protect her from this serial killer who was quite possibly after her. She couldn't completely fault him for just doing his job. "Leave your gun on the table," Keller demanded, she didn't want that thing in her room, this was her safety zone.

There was a muffled clatter of metal hitting the wooden surface of the table outside Keller's door and then creaking as Spencer opened it. "Shoes too, please." Keller didn't know if Spencer did or not, and didn't poke her head from under the sheets to see if her demands were met either.

There was heavy silence that stretched on and on, Keller was curious what Spencer was doing out there. _He better not be going through my stuff._ Keller peeked out, glare ready, but his back was to her and he was analyzing a painting on the wall, it was one she'd done the year after she moved to the city. It was of the Grim Reaper, with a dark cloak and large black wings, and a skeletal blonde woman, fighting over Death's scythe. "Not my best work," Keller commented, and snorted when Spencer shrieked and spun around to look at her.

"No, no, it's very good," Spencer assured her.

"We are fighting for our lives everyday, but eventually Death always wins," Keller murmured, she avoided Spencer's eyes and thought about the second painted she'd hidden away in the back of her closet, it corresponded with the one on her wall. The backgrounds were nearly identical but the Reaper was now airborne his large dark wings taking up most of the canvas, he was holding his blood coated scythe with the human woman dead under him. Her work reminded her too much of Misty, so she put it away until she could look at it and not feel regret for what happened to Misty.

"That only means we have to fight harder," Spencer said, coming over to the edge of Kellers bed.

Keller looked up and him and gave him a slow grin, "I suppose it does. Cheating here and there doesn't hurt that much either."

Spencer laughed softly, "I've dodged my fair share of bullets."

"Are you being serious? Because no offence but you look like more of an indoor guy, not a field guy getting shot at every other day," Keller mused looking Spener up and down, he had indeed taking off his shoes like she had asked, and his fucking socks didn't even match. _I_ _s_ _he really an FBI agent? Or was my previous idea right? That grumpy looking asshole is his dad?_

"Yeah, um, I am a field guy," Spencer said squinting his eyes at her. That look did odd things to her belly, and she wanted to pull him into her bed.

"Have you ever gotten shot by someone?" Keller asked.

"No, I haven't," Spencer answered.

"Shot someone?" Keller whispered.

Spencer hesitated a moment before speaking, "Yes."

They were silent for a while, Spencer was the first to break the strenuous eye contact and Keller looked around her room, nervous that Spencer might think she was messy. But with all things there was a method to the madness that surrounded her. "You've asked me some things. May I ask you some questions?"

Keller looked up at Spencer who was squinting at her again, patting the place on the mattress beside her, she waiting until Spencer sat down, before scooting away, "What do you want to know about me?"

Spencer looked like he was deep in thought, his lips fluttered quickly like her was talking quietly to himself, finally he looked her in the eye again and asked a question far simpler than Keller was expecting. "Do you like living in New York?"

Keller squinted at Spencer the, the way he was doing to and then giggled to herself, she couldn't see hardly anything and being short an eye didn't help, "I actually hate living in cities," Keller admitted.

Spencer looked a little shocked by this, "Then why stay?"

"My careers mostly. There are a lot of people in cities who like the type of art I do, and art auctions help me sell some of my paintings and such. Also when it's nice out I like to sit on the curb with my paintings and let people look at them" Keller explained.

"You didn't mention your singing career," Spencer told her.

"If you try and analyze me, I'll kick you out too," Keller warned. "But, I didn't mention it because, singing was more a means to an end. Bars will pay a couple hundred bucks for entertainment, and when I was younger, I needed money. I didn't live somewhere people appreciated my paintings."

"You are a lot different from the girl who kissed me last night," Spencer observed, his mouth quirking up into a grin.

Keller blushed and covered her face with her hands, lowing her head and laughing, "Shut up!" Coming back up Keller smiled at Spencer, "It's because Nexus, is more of a persona I use around crowds. I guess the easiest way to say it is, Nexus and Keller are two different people."

"You have a separate personality?" Spencer asked.

Keller chuckled and shook her head, "I wouldn't go that far, but did you ever have a different version of yourself in your head? Someone who could say and do things the real you would never dream of? That's what Nexus is for me," Keller explained quietly, that's who Shea had met three years ago, Nexus, and that's who Keller was for her. Keller was uncomfortable on stage and in large crowds, but Shea was right at home, and after three years, Keller never mentioned that the life Shea had planned for them wasn't one that she wanted.

"That's very interesting, and it is a thing too. It's called the id, ego and superego. The id is the unorganized part of our personality, the part that controls our most basic human needs. Particularly sexual desires. The ego pleases the id in realistic ways, benefiting it in the long run. And the superego, is taught to us by our parents and other outside forces, reflecting cultural rules," Keller sat stunned, while Spencer rattled off the info like he was reading directly from a book, his fingers fidgeted as he spoke and when he was finished he looked and Keller and laughed a bit at himself for getting carried away, "Sorry."

"It's fine, but truth be told, you lost me after you stopped talking about sex," Keller teased nudging him with her shoulder.

Spencer stuttered for a moment, before he finally realized that Keller was picking on him, "In most societies people, especially women, are quite uncomfortable talking about sexual intercourse, it's seen as taboo, to talk about certain desires and previous partners."

Keller snorted and shook her head at Spencer, "I'm all for breaking statistics."

"Is this Keller or Nexus I'm talking to," Spencer asked.

"We are one in the same, our personalities blend together, but at the end of the day, I always put Keller first," Keller murmured, more to herself than to Spencer. She wasn't sure when it had happened but Nexus had become more than just a persona that Keller used on stage.

Keller shifted until her side was pressed against Spencer and she took comfort in his solid presence, while he was thin and lanky Keller could feel the cords of muscle he had. _Must be from chasing down bad guys._

"What else can you tell me about this case?" Keller asked, she'd been zoning in and out hours ago, her mind flipping between the conversation and into the safety of her own mind. Keller listened carefully as Spencer told her everything he knew about the cases, stopping him a few times when he got to rambling about different statistics and getting him back on pointe.

While Spencer had been explaining the case Keller ending up with her arms wrapped around one of his. "If this guy is just plucking girls of the street, how are you going to protect me, Spencer?"

Spencer cleared his throat, "Well, the FBI would put you in protective custody, move you out of the city into a safe house. Then the FBI and the NYPD will work together and try to lure him out. There is a possibility that with you and Shea no longer performing for a while he may get sloppy, try and seek you out and when he makes a mistake, we'll be there to catch him. But first you need to come to the station with us," Spencer informed her, his little stutter was gone, Keller assumed he was just getting more comfortable around her. She'd have to fix that later.

"I'm _not_ going into protective custody," Keller snipped.

Spencer was about to say something when his phone started to ring, pulling his phone out, Spencer squinted at the caller idea before accepting the call and putting his phone to his ear, "Hey, JJ. No, Hotch got kicked out. Yeah, Morgan too. No, I'm still with her. OK, I'll bring her in."

Spencer hung up and gave Keller a sullen look, "Where are you taking me?"

"We have to go to the station. Another girl has been reported missing."


	4. Chapter 4

**Keller**

* * *

Spencer coached Keller on how to pack a go bag, telling her that it was good to have an extra set of cloths for the unexpected situation. Keller pulled her old duffle bag from the back of closet and tossed in a pair of sneakers, two pairs of socks, underwear and a bra, shorts, jeans and a tank top. Tossing in a sketchpad and pencils as an afterthought. Keller met Spencer at the door, and pulled on a pair of knee high boots with a two inch heel.

"My team is going to meet us at the station," Spencer informed her, like a gentleman he took Keller's bag off the floor, while she was putting on her shoes and opened the door for her. Keller locked up, and led Spencer to the bottom floor. Keller walked to the curb and was trying to hail a cab when Spencer tapped her arm gently and pointed to a black SUV.

"Wow, you get your own SUV when you're in the FBI?" Keller asked, the vehicle looked brand new, as if it had just been bought off the showroom floor.

"We have a jet too," Spencer told her.

 _Bullshit!_ Keller got into the passenger seat and waited for Spencer to drive. Spencer was a good driver, but Keller could tell from the way he was gripping the wheel and stomping the brake on the ride there that he was not used to city driving. But she had no room to talk, being twenty two and not even having a driver's licence. At the NYPD headquarters, Keller glared up at the building. Cops were next to useless in her opinion, she still looked into Misty's case and no progress whatsoever had been made. But then again, why should anyone care about the life of a prostitute?

Keller grabbed her duffle bag from behind her seat, before Spencer could and jumped out of the SUV, she followed closely behind Spencer, her eyes swiveled about, taking in her surroundings as best she could. Most people didn't like small spaces, Keller didn't like wide open areas, especially when there was so much hustle and bustle. She could only see about half of it, which meant if something came at her from the left, she'd be slow to react, which would easily put her at risk.

But, then again not watching in front of her cause her to walk right into Spencer, which cause him to bump into the man in front of him, who dropped a coffee mug, which shattered upon impact with the floor, sending shards of glass and hot coffee across the floor. Keller could felt her skin crawl as all eyes in the room seemed to rest on her.

"Oops?" She mumbled when she met Spencer's eyes as he look over his shoulder at her.

"Sorry, excuse us," Spencer gently took Keller by the arm and pulled her into a room where the rest of his team appeared to be waiting for them.

One of the men from earlier, Keller though his name might have been Morgan, stood and offered her his chair. "Thank you," Keller murmured, sitting down.

"What's going on out there?" Morgan asked, looking out the door, at the man picking up the bits of his shattered mug.

"We have more important things to worry about right now," Agent Hard Ass, said shutting the door. "Prentiss, Rossi and I are going to the home of the latest victim to interview the family. Nexus,".

"Keller, if you don't mind," She requested.

"Keller. Reid and Morgan are going to the abduction site. Would you be willing to go with them?"

"If it will help, of course," Keller agreed.

Agent Hotchner nodded, still looking grouchy as ever, "Let's go. You two can meet us at the family's house."

"Two?" Keller asked, she knew she wasn't included in the two, "What about me?"

"After you show Morgan and Reid all the points of entry, you'll be taken to your home, where an officer will watch over you. We may even have to put you into protective custody if we don't get the unsub soon."

Keller did not like the sound of that at all, and glared back at Hotchner, "I already told Spencer that I. Am. _Not!_ Going. Into protect custody. And so far he's the only one of you that I like, so if you are going to assign anyone to watch over me, I want him."

Keller could feel everyone's eyes on her as she stared down Hotch, she channeled Nexus forward, putting as much venom into her glare as she could. Agent Hotchner caved first. "Alright, Reid will look after you. But, that also means he'll be staying at your apartment until we get the unsub."

"Alright," Keller agreed, turning to Spencer she grinned, "Don't worry, my couch is super comfortable."

"Does this mean that, I'm taking her home after we look at the abduction site?" Spencer asked Agent Grump.

Hotchner opened his mouth to answer but Keller beat him to the punch, "No, I'm coming with. I can't help but feel this is somehow my fault and I'd like to meet the family. And if you don't like it," Keller growled turning to Hotchner, "Handcuff me to a desk right now."

"I just might," Hotchner said, returning her glare. Keller wasn't sure if he was joking or not, but he dismissed them.

Morgan led the way to the SUV, and got into the driver's seat while Spencer went around the the passenger side, which left Keller to climb into the back seat. Spencer gave Morgan the address and informed him of the fastest way to get there, Morgan ignored Spencer's instructions and they ended up stuck in traffic for forty five minutes.

"Told you so," Spencer said, when they finally able to climb out of the SUV.

"Shut up, Pretty Boy," Morgan told Spencer.

Keller took the lead and led the two agents around to a private entrance. "How many people have access back here?" Morgan asked as she shut the door behind them.

"Um, security guards, performers, sometimes fans will flash their tits at the guard and he'll let them back for a bit to harass the bands," Keller rattled off, flipping switches trying to find the right combination.

Morgan and Spencer spent about two hours looking for clues and creating inferences about what might have happened that night, how the unsub, or whatever they called him, grabbed a young girl with no one noticing.

Keller went to the stage, it was so strange seeing this place empty, walking back and forth around the stage, Keller thought of last night. She tried to remember anything that stood out to her, but as always she kept her eyes down as much as possible and the only thing the struck her as odd was some idiot crowd surfing naked.

In her own head, Keller didn't notice anyone approach and when a hand came down on her left shoulder she flipped out, a rush of adrenaline awakening her fight or flight response. Letting out a screech that echoed around the empty room, Keller grabbed her assailant's wrist, used all her strength to pull him around front of her and shoved him off the stage. It was only after the fact that she realized it was Agent Morgan, he must have been coming to get her.

Spencer ran into the room, gun out and pointed in front of him, ready to shoot. He lowered his weapon when he saw she was alone and gave her a very confused look, "Why were you screaming my name?"

Keller returned the befuddled look, and defended herself, "I did not!" _Did I? I thought I was just plain screaming..._

"Did too," Morgan interjected, groaning as he pulled himself off the floor and climbed back onto the stage.

 _Two against one? Maybe I did._ "I'm sorry about that," Keller apologized, her hands fluttering nervously in front of her.

"Hey, don't worry little lady, that was impressive," Morgan pull an arm around she shoulders and gave her a little squeeze. "Certainly caught me off guard."

"Didn't hurt you too much?" Keller asked.

"Nah, just gotta walk it off," Morgan said.

"The embarrassment of getting bested by me?" Keller teased.

"Next time it'll me on top," Keller had no idea if Morgan was coming onto her or not, but two could play the innuendo game.

"We'll see about that," Keller purred, "As you've seen, I can be pretty," _Pause for effect._ "Feisty."

"Just the way I like 'em," Morgan replied, in a husky tone.

Keller giggled and ducked out from under his arm, "What did you want before I accidently tried to kill you anyway?"

"We got as much as we're going to get from here, time to go meet up with Hotch and the others," Morgan informed her.

Reid had a sour look on his face what Keller turned back at him, "You OK, Spencer?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," Spencer said, his tone saying he wasn't.

 _Huh! I guess "I'm fine," means the same thing when a guy says it too._ Keller decided she wouldn't press the issue with Morgan here.

Going outside, Keller zeroed in on the SUV and yelled, "Shotgun!" Before bolting to the passenger side door.

Spencer had pulled his gun out and was looking around the street, Morgan laughed and leisurely walked to the driver side door, before unlocking the SUV, leaving Spencer to stand on the sidewalk looking extremely confused, "Morgan! She said she saw a shotgun."

"It's a game, Reid," Morgan said, still laughing.

"How is yelling out guns a game?" Spencer asked.

"You don't yell out guns. You call shotgun, whoever says it first gets to ride in the front seat," Morgan explained.

Spencer still looked like he had no idea what was going on, but walked to the SUV and got in behind Morgan. Keller spun in her seat and smiled at him. He didn't return it, turning from her and looking out his window, so she turned back around and pouted. _Is he mad about the kiss last night?_

* * *

 **Spencer**

* * *

Spencer was glowering out his window at traffic, he'd felt an odd buzzing in his chest when Keller told off Hotch at the NYPD office, demanded that he be her protector even though Morgan and maybe even Prentiss would have much better candidates if hand to hand combat was involved. He'd felt that same protective instinct at the theater when Keller screamed out his name, he'd run toward the sound of her voice ready to defend her, only to have the feeling fly out the window when he found Margan with her.

Then rage when Morgan casually teased her the way he did to Garcia, and he knew from watching those two, that Morgan was making sexual references, and it stunned him when Keller easily returned his playful banter. Only Spencer wasn't sure how playful it was, he'd heard and seen Morgan use the same types of phases on numerous women he'd picked up in bars. But this wasn't Garcia, and Spencer had no clue if he was seriously considering making Keller another notch in his bedpost after this was over.

Again he felt that tingle of anger when Keller and Morgan teased him about his not knowing the shotgun game, he'd never played that and Keller could have asked him if she could sit upfront with Morgan if that's what she wanted. Now he was mad at himself, she'd giving him a glowing smile that made it hard to breath and he'd only given her a blank stare before turning away from her, he'd seen a flash of hurt in her eyes when he'd snubbed her but he didn't want to throw himself at her feet and beg forgiveness while Morgan was here.

Getting to the house Keller was the first one out, she looked up at the two story country home, and up and down the streets. "What's up?" Morgan asked, touch her arm gently.

Reid hid his smile when Keller flinched away from him. Morgan still hadn't learned not to approach from her left.

"Just that all these houses look almost identical. It's creeping my out. And that no one has anything better to do than stand outside and gawk at the house with all the cops in front of it," Keller said.

It was true, Reid could see how symmetrical everything was from the yard size, types of vehicles in the driveways, and the ever present nosy neighbors trying to get a glimpse of what all the fuss was about.

The door was wide open and officers waved them in, Prentiss was talking to a crying women Reid assumed was the latest victim's mother, and Hotch pulled Morgan aside to talk with him about what they had found.

Reid stood slightly back from everyone, there probably wasn't much more he could say or ask that hadn't been already, and Keller stood with him, her body language saying she wasn't exactly comfortable here. There was a large staircase that she started up and Reid followed, "You shouldn't be wandering through someone else's house."

"Don't you get paid to do just that?" Keller asked.

"It's different," Spencer responded.

"Is it?" She was on the top step and turned to walk down the hall. There were two officers crouched in front of a door that had been painted black, with a lock on the handle.

Spencer scrunched his eyebrows at the two men, "What are you doing?"

"The lady said not to break the lock," An officer answered.

"There's an infinite number of combinations. How do you expect to figure out which one is right?" Spencer asked, while there wasn't exactly infinite combinations for a six digit lock it was exceedingly large and from the frustration that was clear on the two mens faces that didn't want to listen to his ramblings.

"Try zero six, seventeen, ninety four," Keller said next to him.

"Why do you think that's right?" Spencer asked, looking down at her.

"You'll give yourself wrinkles if you keep frowning like that," Keller reached up and rubbed her thumbs across his forehead, ignoring his question entirely.

Spencer was so confused it made him want to furrow his brows further. "Will you stop that Spencle? You're going to to look ninety by the time you're thirty," Keller giggled and Reid gently grasped her wrists to get her stop.

But just like when she'd kissed him, all other thought left him and all he could do was stare into that lovely gem of an eye. That strange fluttering in his chest came back and intensified the longer he stared at her. Lessening his grip Spencer run his fingers up to the back of her hand, he could feel a slight raising of the skin, where a scar was present. _Perhaps a childhood injury?_

Spencer's eyes darted down to her lips, her tongue had darted out to moisten her lips catching his attention. Vividly Spencer remembered last night's kiss, her lips had been soft as satin, banishing all thought and reason from his head. The tranquillity those lips had brought had been something he'd never experienced naturally before and was twice as good as Dilaudid, he wanted to feel that again, with Keller. Spencer began to lowered his head, when a sharp _snap!_ jerked him back to reality.

Keller dropped her hands and took a step back, wrapping her left arm around her midsection, leaving Spencer chilled without her warmth. Spencer cleared his throat and turned to the door. Both officers looked amazed by the fact the door was no unlocked.

"How'd you know the combination?" One asked Keller.

"It's my birthday," Keller answered, and walked around Spencer, careful not to touch him. Pushing the door open Keller walked in and Spencer scrambled after her. The walls were painted black and there were posters everywhere, mostly of Keller. Spencer took inventory of everything, Prentiss had come up soon after as well, and helped.

Keller was standing out of the way, her arms crossed and she looked like she was going to be sick. Spencer went up to her and waited until she initiated eye contact, "Is everything OK?"

"Mm-hmm, just seeing my face everywhere like this is making me uncomfortable," Keller admitted, looking around.

"Really? But you're such a beautiful young girl," Prentiss said, joining the conversation.

Keller snorted and her pasture stiffened, "Right."

Spencer went to reach for her arm but pulled back and let her pass him and followed a little bit behind her as she left the room. She quickly descended the steps where she bumped into the latest victim's mother. "Ah! I'm very sorry, ma'am."

Keller went to exit the house but the woman forcefully grabbed her arm and glowered at her, with her heeled shoes Keller was at eye level, but Spencer could tell she was terrified. "You," The woman growled. "You're the one she went to see last night." Keller made attempts to stutter out an apology, but she couldn't get it out, and unfortunately for her no one was able to predict what would happen next and jump in to prevent it.

With the hand that didn't have Keller's arm in a death grip, the woman backhanded her with a resounding slap. Hotch was the first to run over to help, placing an arm between the two women, but the mother held fast and got another good slap in while shrieking at Keller.

"This is _your_ fault! Kat snuck out to go see you! She wasn't even supposed to be there last night! Whatever happens to her is your fault! If my daughter dies it is your fault!" She had grabbed onto Keller's hair and Morgan had to jump in and help Hotch pry the women apart.

"This in not her fault, it's the fault of the person who took your daughter," Hotch said sternly, finally getting the mother away from Keller and dragging the sobbing woman back to her sofa.

It took some time before the woman had gotten ahold of herself, taking a breath she began shooing people out. "My son will be home soon. I have to figure out a way to tell him his sister won't be home."

Prentiss began to tell her that they wanted to interview him, saying he might have seen someone strange hanging around but the mother refused and hurried them out the door.

"Where did Keller go?" Morgan asked, after the door was slammed behind them.

"That little girl that got hit?" One of the NYPD officers asked. "After Mrs. Hayes finally let go of the poor girl, she bolted out of here like a bat out of hell."

"You just let her run away?" Hotch growled.

"Well, yeah, I mean, she's just a friend of the missing girl. Isn't she?"

"She is the primary target of the unsub. If he's following her, she could be in danger," Hotch said, in a low intimidating voice he used when he was extremely angry. "Everybody fan out, we have to find her."

Hotch gave Reid a hard glare. He'd screwed up... Again.

Reid quickly walked to the edge of the street and tried to put himself into Keller's shoes, where would she have gone? Left? Right? Straight? Reid had no idea, he was as unfamiliar with this area as Keller. To the left he could hear kids yelling and silence to the right. Reid went right. He kept choosing quiet streets until he reached the edge of the small suburb.

He was about to turn back and see if anyone else on his team was able to find her, but Reid noticed some small depressions in some tall grass, that led down a hill. Reid carefully made his way down, finding plenty of rocks and roots that kept catching his feet. At the bottom there was a stone path, with grass and weeds growing through breaks in the stone. Jogging down the path Reid stopped when he saw a large willow tree, through the thick branches and leaves he could make out the legs of a bench. And black heeled shoes.

Clearing his throat... Loudly. And stepping a a few dry, crunchy twigs, making sure the Keller knew he was approaching, Reid slowing parted the hanging branches and stepped into the shady secluded area the tree provided. Keller was sitting in the center of the bench, her knees pulled to her chest with her arms wrapped around them, her hair was draped around her like a protective curtain.

Keller didn't even spare him a glance, only scooted down the bench so Reid would have enough room to sit down beside her. "Is this my fault?"

Spencer looked down at her in shock. How can she possibly think this is her fault? Keller had pulled legs in tighter to her chest and Spencer got very uncomfortable when he saw she was crying. He wasn't a ladies man like Morgan, he didn't know what to do, or what to say that could make Keller feel any better about all this. Deep down he knew, people were dieing and Keller was blaming herself, there wasn't anything he could to make that better.

Trying to come up with something profound and uplifting Spencer didn't notice that Keller was leaning into him until he felt her little body press against his. He was a little confounded at first but slowly he wrapped her up in his arms, one around her shoulders and the other around her legs. Like this he realized just how small Keller was. _How did she ever overpower Morgan?_ Reid thought to himself, he rarely saw anyone overpower Morgan and this girl felt so small and frail in his arms, he could not wrap his mind around the concept.

But still he held her, her tiny frame shook as her tears were no longer silent and fierce sobs or little hiccups escaped. Spencer tried not to let his lack of knowledge in the women's department show and awkwardly rubbed her shoulder and made shushing sounds.

Reid didn't know how long he held her that way, but she'd been silent for a little while now and was beginning to relax in his embrace. Spencer wasn't sure what to do now. He had successfully comforted a crying woman, right? Why hadn't she pulled away yet? Was there more to this type of protocol? Did he pull away and tell her there were people waiting for them? Or did he wait silently until she broke apart from him?

Spencer got his answer what his cell went off, breaking the quiet with his ringtone. Keller jumped away and nearly fell off the bench, but reaching out, Spencer caught her arm and pulled her upright. She pursed her lips at him and nodded at the cellphone in his hand.

Clearing his throat he flipped his cell open, "Reid."

"Reid, none of us have found Keller. You have any luck?" Morgan asked, he had a thing for calling at the wrong time didn't he?

"Yeah, she's with me. We are heading back now," Spencer replied hanging up and sliding his phone back into his pocket.

Keller took his tie, and he half expected her to jerk him in for a kiss like the last time, but instead her used it as a handkerchief and dried her eyes with it. Lucky for him she didn't wipe her runny nose on it. Spencer stood and offered her his hand, she took it and gave him a small smile, "Thank you, Spencer."

"I, um, yeah, what, uh, what for?" Spencer asked. He didn't think he did anything that had earned her thanks.

"I don't know! Finding me, I guess. Letting me cry on you, using your tie as a tissue."

"Oh, I, um, of course, no problem," Reid stuttered, lifting the branches and letting Keller walk out first before he followed after her.

"How did you manage to find me? I thought my hiding spot was really good," Keller said, turning to face him, for some reason Spencer kept forgetting that he should stay on her right side, so she could use her peripheral vision to see him. He also noticed that she had not yet let go of his hand.

"Well, I'm, um, from the BAU, the Behavior Analysis Unit, so, I just used what I learned about you, to figure out where you would be most comfortable."

"Son of a bitch, you've known for all of twenty-four hours and you already know so much about me," Keller said.

Reid wasn't sure how to answer her, but gave her hand a light squeeze, which she returned, Spencer glanced at her, but with her thick hair covering up her face he could gauge her emotional state. _At least she isn't crying anymore._

When they reached the hill, Spencer hadn't realized how steep the incline really was, releasing Keller's hand, Spencer took the lead and quickly found that he was unable to find decent footholds.

Behind him Keller was having no such trouble, ascending quickly, passing him and the sitting on top in the hill, waiting. Spencer finally made it and sat next to her winded and a little sweaty.

"Can we go home?" Keller asked quietly.

Now on the proper side of her, Spencer could see that her eyes were red, puffy and still a little watery. "We have to give whatever information we have to the officers at the NYPD. Then I'll take you home."

Keler nodded silently in agreement, before standing up, Reid got up with her and they walked back to where Hotch, Morgan and Prentiss where waiting with the SUVs. "You can't run off like that," Scolded Morgan, when Reid approached with Keller.

He opened his mouth to say more, but when he saw Keller's red downcast eyes, and with a glare from Reid and an elbow to the ribs from Prentiss he shut his mouth and climbed into the driver's seat.


	5. Chapter 5

**Spencer**

* * *

They were at the precinct for nearly two hours. When they arrived, Keller flopped into a chair and rested her head on the desk in front of her. Reid was going to go into one of the conference rooms to deliver information that they had learned, but Prentiss stopped him.

"It's a little chilly in here," Prentiss mentioned.

Reid glanced around at the air conditioning vents and nodded at Emily, "Yeah, it is."

She gave him a look of disbelief, "Do you see how little she is?"

Reid looked over at Keller, sleeping at one of the desks, "Yeah, she's very petite."

Emily threw her hands up and gave him a light shove in Keller's direction, "Give her your jacket!"

The lightbulb clicked on and he nodded quickly, shrugging out of his coat and walking over to Keller, Reid nervously peered down at her. This was the first time he'd seen her at peace all day, he worried about disturbing her slumber when he placed his coat around her shoulders, but she never stirred.

Prentiss patted him on the back when he went into the conference room, and he felt himself get a little heated in the face. Morgan chuckled at his reaction, but quickly stopped once Hotch relayed the new information.

Morgan nudged Reid when they exited the room, "Sure, you want to look after Keller? I don't mind stepping in if you think she might be too much for you to handle," Derek winked and it took all Spencer had not to hit him in his stupid smirking face.

"No, I can take care of her just fine on my own, thank you very much," Reid went to Keller's side, at some point she must have woken up, for her arms were in the sleeves of his jacket. Spencer knew she could be jumpy, and act before she fully thought of the results, and hesitated with his hand over her shoulder. Would she react the way she had with Morgan and knock him on his backside?

 _No time like the present to figure it out,_ Spencer decided and rested his hand on her arm, giving her a light shake until her eye flew open and zoned in on him. Spencer startled when he saw not fear but what appeared to be anger. Over the next minute or so, Keller's eye was the only thing that moved as she reacquainted herself with her surroundings. "Are we leaving?"

"Um, y-yeah. I'm taking you, h-home," Spencer stumbled over words, still reeling from the rage he'd seen when Keller had woken up. Her expression flattened into an even one, and rekindled sadness seeped into her eyes.

Spencer walked out of the precinct with Keller next to him, Reid climbed into the drivers seat and waited until Keller was buckled in before pulling into traffic, it was around one in the morning now and Reid was getting a little sleepy from all the fuss that went on through out his day. From the way Keller kept bobbing her head and rubbing her eyes, Spencer was sure that she felt the same exact way.

Letting Keller take the lead, Spencer took a moment to look around the building's lobby, the paint was chipping and the wallpaper was peeling, some of the light sockets were completely empty giving the lobby a creepy glow that reminded him of a cheesy horror movie. At the door Keller fiddled with three different keys before she found the proper one, and opened the door, letting Spencer walk in first and shutting the door behind them.

Keller slipped off his jacket and then her own, hanging both up by the door. She then kicked off her shoes and Reid did the same. Keller padded over to the small kitchen area and pulled out some chips, "I don't usually eat at my apartment so I literally have nothing but chips and candy," Explained Keller, passing Spencer the bag. His stomach growled at the thought of food, and while potato chips were not a meal, he wasn't going to turn down sustenance.

Popping the bag open, Spencer looked around the little apartment, there were only two doors... desides the entrance. Spencer knew that one was Keller's bedroom, and assumed the other might be the restroom, since Keller did come out of it half dressed. The thought brought the image forward and he could see it clear as day, he nearly choked on the handful of chips he'd shoved into his mouth.

"I suppose since you are staying with me indefinitely, I should give you the grand tour," Keller said, she yawned in the cutest way, covering her mouth with the back of her hand, and rubbing her nose with it after. The action reminded him of a kitten.

Pointing to the cooking area, "Kitchen, I don't know about you, but I'm pretty sure without my morning coffee, I'd be dead. Coffee and tea are in the cabinet, snacks are next to that, and mugs, among other dishes and utensils are in the dish drain." Spencer memorized ever word and cabinets she pointed out.

Taking two steps back so she stood in the sitting area, "This is my living room, I'm not here that often so I don't have cable, but I have a vast selection of movies, and since you are half giant, feel free to move the furniture any way you want so you can sleep comfortably," Keller was about to move onto the next area of her home before she stopped and turned to him. "Or if you prefer I can, take the couch since I'm so much smaller and you can have my bed."

 _Only if you sleep in it with me._ Where did _that_ come from?! That sounded more like something Morgan would say. Spencer shook his head and stuttered out a sentence, "No! I-I mean. No, y-you can sleep in your room, an-and I-I'll stay out here without you. I mean so that I can protect you!"

Keller chuckled, and nodded her head toward her room, Spencer already knew this room and Keller didn't waste anytime, "This is where I sleep... usually. Please, don't wake me before eleven, and if you do, you'd better have coffee in hand."

Spencer nodded.

"And I don't know what dumb ass designed my room but you are going to have to come through my room if you ever need to use the the bathroom." The door Spencer thought might have been a closet led to a small bathroom, with a toilet, sink and a spacious tub with a large shower head.

Reaching under her bed Keller then pulled out a few blankets and handed them to Spencer, "It's been cold these last couple nights."

"Thank you," Spencer said. Keller only nodded her head, Spencer could see how drained she was, and with a gently hand against his back she lead him out of her room and shut the door behind him, leaving him to make up his couch bed, he didn't move anything around, even though she'd given her permission. Choosing to instead just curl his legs up as much as he could. It took hours to get comfortable on the small sofa, which also caused Reid to have a very restless sleep.

* * *

 **Keller**

* * *

Keller sat on the floor of her room, after she'd all but kicked poor Spencer out of her room. Too much had happened today and she could hardly process any of it, the only thing that seemed to be keeping her from drifting off into her own world was the constant sting in her cheek, from where that crazy old bitch had slapped her. _Twice!_ But then again, she supposed that the woman had right to be mad and she just needed someone to take her aggression out on.

Pushing herself off the floor, Keller chose to take a hot shower before crawling into bed she wasn't sure she'd sleep tonight, but, getting the grime of the day her was a good start if she wanted to feel better.

Fresh out of the shower Keller flopped facedown onto her bed, naked and still soaking wet her hair soaked through her pillow, she thought about getting off her bed and drying off, but it felt as is she had a heavy weight holding her down. She closed her eyes thinking maybe she'd get a few hours of rest in, not sure what tomorrow would hold for her. The cops were out looking for the missing girl nd the killer, and Keller didn't know what else was involved in a police investigation. Did she just sit back and wait with Spencer until the dust cleared and it was safe for her again. Or if she'd have to keep driving around the city with Spencer and Derek, looking for clues and getting slapped by angry mothers.

While all these different questions were swimming around in her head, thoughts of Spencer kept popping up. What did he think of her? She knew she wasn't the best looking girl, and she could be awkward, and even a little cold at times. Did he like her? Would they keep in contact once all this bullshit was far behind them?

 _Does Spencer think I'm pretty?_ _No. Why would he? Even if he does, if he ever sees the other side of my face he'll turn and run. Just like everyone else._ Sighing, Keller rolled onto her side and cuddled Misty Bear up in her arms. She tossed and turned for hours before she fell into a restless sleep, with all the dead girls watching her with accusing dead eyes.

The next morning, Keller rolled out of bed, hair clung to her pillow and bed sheets, still damp from her refusal to dry it. On a normal day she'd walk around her apartment completely naked, but she had an FBI agent sleeping on her couch, and while he'd seen her without pants she didn't want to scare him anymore than she already had. So rummaging through her dresser she got on a pair of black skinny jeans and a t-shirt.

Stepping out of her room, the clock on her stove told her it was only seven AM. Spencer was still curled up on her couch, looking like an adorable puppy. Keller tried to make as little noise as she could as she went about brewing pop of coffee. The scent of french vanilla filled the air, and she leaned against the counter, relaxed, as the sound of dripping coffee filled the room. Grabbing a mug, she poured almost half of the sugar bowl into her cup, and topped the mug off with creamer.

Checking on Spencer who was still asleep on the couch, Keller set her coffee on the counter and carefully adjusted the blankets around him. She'd been extremely touched when she'd woken up at the precinct with his coat draped around her, and she felt as long as he was her guest she'd do her best to take care of this man. But he was so fucking tall, she couldn't manage to tuck him in properly without uncovering his feet, one of which was bare, while the other had a purple and blue sock barely clinging to his toes.

 _What a goober._

Keller grinned down at him, he looked so peaceful in his sleep, Keller just had to capture the image. Her apartment was originally supposed to have a second bedroom, but she'd converted the other room into an art studio. Normally she was the only one who went in, but every so often someone would see her art and ask for a personal painting, usually portraits. Going in she went to the desk on the other side of the room and grabbed a large sketchbook, and pencils.

Going back out she picked on one of the chairs from her table, light and easy to move as not to wake Spencer. She repositioned the chair several times, before she found the perfect angle.

Keller started with a rough outline first before capturing the more prominent details. The way Spencer's hair fell across his forehead in messy clumps, the way his fingers curled against his chest as he slept, even the bit of drool that was seeping from the corner of his mouth. She sat there drawing for what felt like a few minutes but she was sure from the way the light was changing because of the open windows, that it was at least an hour or more.

Looking down at the sketch she was working on and adding shading in a few places Keller didn't notice that Spencer was beginning to wake up, "Is there coffee?"

Keller jumped up, dropping the sketch pad which slapped loudly against the tiled floor. Of course it landed face up and Spencer squinted down at it, then at her, "Sorry it's um, not finished yet." Keller scooped up the pad and flipped some of the pages down, covering up her sketch, hoping the pencil didn't smear.

Spencer continued to stare at her as she puttered around, trying to hide how jittery she was after being caught drawing him while he slept. Keller glanced at him as she picked up her abandoned coffee and took a sip, and discreetly spat it back into the mug, it was cold and had a bitter taste. Spencer was pulling his socks back on and adjusting his sleep rumpled clothing.

Keller pulled another mug from the cabinet and set it on the counter, dumping her cold coffee down the drain and pouring a fresh cup, Spencer had gotten up and come over picking up the empty mug Keller had gotten for him. Passing the pot over, Keller jumped a bit when his long fingers brushed against her own. Plucking at her lip ring nervously with her teeth Keller inspected how Spencer prepared his coffee, like her, he appeared to like it on the sweet side, adding eight heaping spoonfuls of sugar and pouring cream in until it was a light brown. Taking a sip, Spencer added one more spoonful of sugar and sighed with content.

With them both sipping coffee and looking anywhere but each other, the awkwardness slowly dissipated. "What are we doing today?"

Spencer looked up from the second cup of coffee he was preparing and pressed his lips together in thought, "I thought we would just stay in, until we find the person who is after you."

Keller nodded slowly and huffed, "That sounds like a shit way to spend the day. It's finally warming up, and I can go outside without worrying about frostbite, or getting shoes full of snow."

Spencer stuttered for a few moments trying to think of some way to respond, "But it's not safe!"

Keller pouted at Spencer and gave him her best sad puppy face, hoping she could get him to cave in to her whim, "Why not?"

"Because there is a serial killer on the loose kidnapping young girls out in the open," Spener explained.

"He's taking them at night, right? From concerts where I am?"

"Yes," Spencer agreed.

"Well, if you and I are out in the daylight, I'm not performing, and as long as you stay by my side, I don't think anyone will try and snatch me up," Keller was confident in her plan.

Spencer was motioning about with his hands, like he was trying to pull a reason why this was a bad idea out of thin air and finally he sighed, "Fine, we can go out. But we have to be inside before it gets dark out."

"We are in a city, Spencer. It's never really dark," Keller teased.

Spencer sighed and finished making up his coffee, not saying anything more. Keller decided that now was a good time to finish getting ready and went to her room. Spencer had brought bag with him, so she hoped he'd have clothes to change into, having worn what he had on all day and slept in it. There wasn't much more she need other than a jacket and socks, so within five minutes she was ready to go.

Spencer was adjusting his tie, and when he dropped his hands, Keller was sure that it was still crooked, but she knew nothing about tying ties, therefore she didn't mention the state of Spencer's to him. "Are you ready?" Spencer asked.

Keller was picking up a few odds and ends here and there. From the view, she could tell there were lot of people out today and she might be able to make some quick cash from her drawings. "Um, I think so," Keller mumbled going into her drawing room. She got a stack of blank paper, pencils and a medium sized sketch book. Going back into the living room, she passed the paper to Spencer.

 _If I'm going to have an FBI guy follow me around, I may as well have him help carry shit._

Meandering around the apartment, Keller plucked different paintings and sketches from her walls, thinking that she may be able to sell a few today, and them she could fill her walls back up with new artwork. Grinned at Spencer she nodded at him and opened the door to her apartment, where she paused with Spencer looking at her curiously from the hall.

 _What the hell am I forgetting?_ Keller passed Spencer the rest of the items that she was holding and patted her pockets. _Phone, money... Keys!_

Keller slammed the door and rushed around until she found where she had misplaces the keys to her apartment. They were onto of her refrigerator. Spencer had a worried look on his face when Keller came back into the hall, but when she jangled her keys at him he visibly relaxed. Keller locked up and took some things from Spencer, before she lead him outside. The sun was out but the air still held the chill of winter.

"Where are we going?" Spencer asked, while Keller looked around.

"There is a little park not to far from here," Keller explained. She hadn't been there in a few months and was thinking of the quickest way to get there. Nodding her head at Spencer, Keller started off, the park was six blocks away and on a day like this there would be decent foot traffic.

Arriving, Keller scanned the park, there were many people milling about, there were women with baby strollers, joggers, and people who were just out with friends enjoying the weather. It was a bit of an endeavor but Keller and Spencer found an empty bench near the heart of the park, and began setting up Keller's artwork.

Keller made sure everything was weighed down in case of high winds, while Spencer sat on the bench, one of his legs bouncing uncontrollably and watched her with a critical eye. Once everything met Keller's standards she sat next to Spencer and pulled out her sketch book to pass the time. Spencer was people watching and as Keller looked for a clean page to draw on, Keller came across the drawing from this morning.

"Do you mind if I draw you?" Keller questioned Spencer.

"Isn't that what you were doing this morning?" Spencer replied, there was no trace of annoyance or anger in his tone and Keller peeked up at him to find him watching her with a curious expression.

"Yeah, but, I wasn't expecting to get caught," Keller mumbled, feeling her face heat up. "I mean! I know I shouldn't have been drawing you without your permission, and I was kind of in your space and then you woke up to some weird fucking chick drawing you. And... Yeah, sorry."

"I've woken up to worse," Spencer spoke quietly, his eyes far away and sad. Keller's brow furrowed as she watched him shudder and rub his inner elbow.

Keller thought that that was a bit odd but didn't bring it up, she also wondered about what could have been worse, but decided that with his line of work, she did not want to know what kinds of horrors that Spencer may have found himself in. Turning so she was leaning against the armrest of the bench Keller swung her feet up, resting them in the space between herself and Spencer, Resting her sketch book against her knees Keller took a deep breath and started on her work.

"Tell me about yourself," Keller said after the silence had stretched too long for her comfort. WHile she normally stayed quiet while she was working of her art, this was a special case, Spencer was living with her, and now was a good time as any to get to know one another a little better.

"Like what?" Spencer asked.

"Let's start basic. Where did you grow up?"

"Um, Las Vegas, Nevada."

"Really? Are you any good at gambling?"

"I've been banned from all the casinos," Spencer admitted.

"If you are going to cheat, you can't be obvious about it. You need to lose a hand here and there to throw off suspicion," Keller informed him.

Spener only nodded as response, and faced forward, watching the people walking by, a few would bend down and look at Keller's art, but no bites yet. Keller worried for a bit that they might think that Spencer was a client or something, but didn't bother to stop drawing him.

"Where are you from?" Spencer asked out of the blue.

"Here and there. The last place I was before this was some shitty little town in upstate New York, I don't even remember the name," Keller said, she however did remember the name of the motel she had called "home," but that was a story for another time. "What were you like in school?"

Keller was trying to get a feel for Spencer, so far she greatly enjoyed his company and he wasn't to bad to look at either, she couldn't imagine that he was much of a ladies' man in school from how awkward he seemed to be as an adult, but maybe his teenage hormones lowered to normal when he'd hit adulthood. "School was very easy for me," Spencer said.

"Yeah, was one of your parents a teacher?" Keller asked, she always assumed teachers' kids had it easy when it came to school work and how they were graded.

"My mother _was_ a college professor, fifteenth century literature," Spencer informed her.

"Well, if your mom was a college teacher, you must have been really good in school," Keller said, smiling.

"I suppose, but having an eidetic memory and an IQ of one eighty seven more so," Spencer replied.

"Eidetic? That's like photo memory or some shit, right?" Keller had heard the term eidetic before, but she needed to be sure.

"Yes, it is. I can also read twenty thousand words per minute," Spencer had a slightly smug lift to his chin.

"Damn, girls must have been all over you," Keller teased.

"Not so much. I graduated high school when I was twelve," Keller could tell from the straightforward way Spencer answered that he must not have could the humor in her tone, but then something else caught her attention.

"Did you really just fucking say that you got out of school when you were twelve?" Keller narrowed her eyes at him, daring him to lie to her.

"Yes," He stated matter of factly.

"So, you must not have dated much then," Keller said, she smiled to herself, imagining some silly little eleven year old going to her parents and saying she was with a senior, and then her parents calling the cops on poor little Spencer.

"No, my prospects were very limited, and I had more important things to focus on," Spencer said.

"You must have stood out like a sore thumb," Keller mused.

"Yeah, and not many jocks like being outwitted by a prepubescent child," Spencer added nodding.

Keller frowned, she could only imagine what a bunch of jocks could have done to a little kid. "I'm sorry, school must have been hard for you."

Spencer only shrugged, and straitened his posture when Keller leaned in close to him, memorizing those little details and putting them to paper, "What about you?"

"Me?" Keller glanced up from her work.

"Did you ever have a boyfriend in school?"

Keller wouldn't say that she was surprised by Spencer's question, they were after all on the topic of their personal lives while they'd been in school. However the onslaught of memories from her school days caused her to tense, so much so that she snapped her pencil into three pieces. Thinking back, she'd never really dated.

No, she got passed around. Keller had never been popular, and when she'd turned fourteen and began going to highschool, all she wanted to do was fit in. No matter what it took.

She first started in her grade, losing her virginity to someone she knew she could never fall far. He was just some means to an end pothead, that gave her a hit off his joint before taking her behind the schools dumpsters. It was all down hill from there.

The guy told pretty much every fucking person he knew, and while whispers and rumors floated around Keller she never let it get to her. After a few months, she began getting invites to all the "cool" senior parties, where the guys would get her black out drunk, and in those dark hours Keller could only guess what happened. At least two or three times a week, she'd wake up in strange beds, with strange people, and have to find her way back to her home where she could sleep off the hang over and scrub the scent of bad sex from her skin.

The year she dropped out she was a sixteen year old Sophomore trying to clean up her act. After having a pregnancy scare, she realized she wasn't ready for a kid and she could hardly take care of herself. When she rebuffed the advances of a senior who the year prior regularly sought her out, he roughly dragged her into the faculty bathroom, saying a slut had no right to refuse him.

The senior had then ripped her pants down to her knees and tore her shirt open. Keller's fight response kicked into overdrive though and her need to protect herself came into effect when she swung with all her might at his dick. The senior doubled over and called her every cruel name in the book, his voice octaves higher than normal. Keller quickly pulled up her jeans and held the remnants of her shirt closed, hoping to cover as much of her cleavage as she was able to.

Instantly she went to the principle hoping he could do something, expel him, call the police, as long as he didn't touch her again, Keller didn't care what happened to him. And to her dismay the principle only said that the way she dressed and with the name she made for herself over the past two years she had been asking for it and shouldn't have led him on. Keller was dumbfounded, she gets sexually assaulted and _it's her fault?_

The day after the incident, Keller dropped out, and packed up all her things, leaving the town of five hundred people behind. She'd made a name for herself there and there was no way she could change a bunch of bible beaters minds. To them she was the scum of the earth and if she wanted a fresh start, she'd have to leave altogether. And that's just what she did.

Spencer reached over and touched Keller's arm gently, causing her to flinch, "Are you OK? Your hands are shaking and your posture is very stiff." Keller looked up at Spencer and was about to tell him that she was fine but he kept talking before she could speak, "Your pupils are dilated as well."

"I'm OK, Spencer," Keller said, forcing herself to take a deep breath and slow her heart rate down to normal. Dropping the shattered remains of her pencil onto the ground Keller picked up a fresh one and went back to her drawing of Spencer. "And, no, I never dated anyone in school."

* * *

 **Spencer**

* * *

Reid sat there and watched Keller from the corner of his eye. The dating question really seemed to have upset her, and he had no idea why. Maybe she did date someone and had a really bad break up that she didn't want to talk about.

Her once smooth, relaxed face, now had furrowed brows and where Keller looked up at him often before, she now barely spared him a glance keeping her focus on the drawing of him that she was working on.

Spencer flickered his eyes away from Keller when after twelve minutes and forty two seconds she didn't look his way and began watching the people in the crowd in front of him. He could hear the pencil scratching against the paper and dared a peek at Keller, her eyebrows had smoothed out and her tongue was poking out from her lips in concentration. Adorable.

Even though Reid had only known her for a day he could feel the sexual attraction. Any time he looked at her his pulse quickened, not much, but enough for him to notice the change. He enjoyed how small she was compared to him, it awakened his primal need to protect and care for her, but what she lacked in height she made up for with her personality. From what he knew so far, she put on a tough facade but had a sensitive, gentle, and caring heart.

She had the perfect hourglass figure that he'd overheard J.J. and Prentiss saying all girls wanted. Her bust was fairly small, he didn't know much but if he were to chance a guess Keller was probably a cup size A, maybe a small B, with a slender waist and a soft flare of hips.

The sound of light scratching pulled Spencer back to reality for it had stopped. Looking up, to meet Keller's eyes, Reid found she was watching him intently too. Just like the first time they met, he was at a loss for words the moment, a wide, roundish almond shaped cerulean blue eye was holding his attention and Spencer was about to say something, he had no clue what but, Keller snapped her head up and looked at a tall dark skinned woman in a navy pant suit.

Spencer zoned out, going back to people watching and mentally scolding himself or getting caught up in Keller's beauty. A girl like her, would never go for a lanky, inexperienced guy like him. Morgan on the other hand seemed to be ready to swoop in and sweep Keller off her feet.

Reid watched as money traded hands between the two women, and the one women picked up a colorful painting and walked off, but not before Keller wrote something on a slip of paper and passed it over the the woman.

"What was that?" Spencer asked.

"My address," Keller responded. "Beatrise saw my drawing of you and wanted me to do one of her. She's coming by later this week."

Keller's sketch of him was that good? "May I see?"

"It's not quite finished yet, but sure, I guess, you have been sitting here with me for the last six hours. Close your eyes." Spencer did as Keller commanded and heard the rustling of paper, "OK, open."

Reid opened up his eyes and his jaw slackened at when her saw. If he didn't know better, he would have thought that he was looking at a black and white photoghaph of himself, Keller even went as far to draw people in the background, with extreme detail. "You call this not finished?" Reid was baffled.

"There is still some shading I need to do, background people I need to finish up," Keller murmured looking at the picture.

Spencer's brain as always was working in overdrive and a thought came to the forefront of his mind, "Did you say you gave that woman your address?"

"Um, yeah. Why?" Keller asked, it was beginning to get dark and Keller began packing her supplies up.

"Is that a regular thing?" Spencer questioned, his brain was working with the possibility that Keller may have met the unsub.

"Once or twice a month, I sometimes have multiple sessions with the same people. Conflicting schedules and shit," Keller explained. "Why? Is that a bad thing?"

"How often do you bring men to your home?"

"For paintings? None. I've had a few bad experiences with that, so if a man wants something done, it has to be a public place. What does this have to do with anything, Spencer?"

"I think you may have painted to unsub," Reid told her, watching her eyes widen in fear. "Being with you for the hours or maybe days it took to paint him, he may have developed those deep possessive and overall psychotic feelings for you. You also said you'd had a few bad experiences with bringing people to your home. You may have rejected him, which was the stressor that caused him to kidnap and murder those other girls."

Spencer watched Keller's mouth move, but no words came out, her tiny frame shook as stress took over, "It'll be OK. My team and I will protect you and catch the unsub. But we have to go to the precinct and update out profile."

Keller nodded, and gathered up the rest of her things with trembling hands. Spencer remembered the way back to her apartment and led her there, where they dropped off her things and grabbed a change of cloths, Spencer had a feeling they'd be with the NYPD the rest of the night. When they left the apartment, Keller took Reid's hand in her own, Spencer was shocked at first, but when he saw the tears threatening to fall he didn't protest and gave her hand a light squeeze. She held his hand tightly in hers until the reached the precinct.

* * *

 ** _A/N:_** So what does everyone think so far? Comments and suggestions are more than welcome. But, thank you to everyone who has continues to read, more chapters are in the works, and I hope you all enjoy reading as much as I am enjoying writing. ^^


	6. Chapter 6

**Keller**

* * *

It had been two weeks since the night spent at the precinct. Spencer was still sleeping on her couch and she could tell it was taking it's toll on the poor man. He was far too tall for the short two person sofa. Keller offered to let him have her bed for the night a few times, but he declined her every offer. She'd even gone so far as to fall asleep on the couch while he'd used her shower, and she'd woken up in her bed tucked in with Misty Bear under her arm.

There had also been no new leads in those weeks, and the girl had not resurfaced. Keller tried not to let the guilt consume her, and Spencer often reminded her that this wasn't her fault. Keller was currently sprawled out on her sofa with Spencer sitting at the other end with her feet in his lap, she was reading some book he'd picked up a few days ago. Spencer had purchased a dozen different books, with varying genres and authors. He'd finished all of them that same night. Every so often she'd come across a word she didn't understand and ask Spencer what it meant, the guy was basically a walking dictionary.

Losing focus for the umteenth time, Keller picked up a slip of paper she was using as a bookmark and closed the book for now. Spencer smiled at her, "What do you think?"

"I have no fucking idea, not my type of book though," Keller told him, shrugging. She was still trying to figure out of all the books in the world he found some sciencey book about the evolution of tree frogs so fascinating. "I'm going to hop in the tub for a bit."

"Be careful not to fall asleep and drown," Spencer warned.

"You got it," Keller called over her shoulder.

Turning the taps and adjusting the temperature Keller, smiled thinking about Spencer. She didn't know all that much about him, but she fucking loved having him around. Normally she'd come home and be alone, waking up and going to bed. Even with Shea's frequent visits and their shows together, which Agent Hard Ass told them to stop for now, Keller always felt a bit isolated. But with Spencer there was always someone around. Thankfully though, they both had their own things they enjoyed doing and could do them separately.

With the tub filled, Keller stripped off her clothing and sank into the gently heat of the water, her hair was pied on top of her head in a messy bun, that had locks of hair falling out everywhere and dipping into the water. The warm water soothed her back and shoulder muscles that were often sore from being bent over a sketch pad or sitting for long periods of time in front of an easel.

Getting her loofa from the counter, Keller doused it with her favorite jasmine and vanilla scented soap, and began scrubbing her skin vigorously. When she got to her breasts Keller gasped, when the soft, warm sponge brushed against her nipples. Keller took in a sharp breath as her idiot mind worked it's magic and made her think of Spencer. Keller could only imagine what his long, gentle fingers might feel against her skin. But, Keller was certain that he probably had a cute, smart, successful girlfriend. Most likely a doctor like Spencer. Keller was none of those things.

Finishing washing her body, trying to keep all sexual thoughts about Spencer out of her head, and thoughts about Spencer out in general. Ducking under the water, Keller blew bubbled out her nose slowly, watching her dark hair swirl around in the water like seaweed. Her chest began to tighten with the lack of air, Keller was curious about how much longer she could stay under before she'd need air. How long before Spencer would come in a rescue her?

Lifting herself out of the water, Keller moved her hair behind her shoulders and got out of the chilled water. Grabbing towel Keller let the water of the tub and went into her room. Drying herself off Keller get dressed, it was warmer today and Keller pulled on a a pair of tight short shorts, along with a black tank top, that had a white skull on the front with red roses in the eyes.

Using towel to dry her hair, Keller went out to ask Spencer what he wanted for lunch. Coming out, Keller found that Spencer was being stared down by Agent Never Smile and Derek Morgan. Hotchner looked grumpy as ever and Morgan looked up at her with sympathy.

"What's up?" Keller asked, draping the towel around her neck like a scarf to keep the water from her hair from running down her neck and spine.

"Have a seat," Hotchner ordered.

Keller came around and sat on her couch, Spencer sat next to her, the fabric of his shirt brushing against her arm, at this proximity Keller was easily able to smell this mornings coffee on him. Derek and Hotchner sat across from them. "So... What's up?" Keller repeated her earlier question. Spencer fidgeted next to Keller, and she knew something was wrong. _Great, what fucking now?_

Derek opened his mouth to tell her what the issue was, but Hotchner took the reins and told Keller flat out why they were in her apartment, "With no new leads in the case, our Section Chief is pulling us back to Quantico. We have other cases that need our attention," There was a soft note in Agent Hotchner's voice, but it did little to comfort Keller.

"So you are just going to abandon me?" She asked, unknowingly leaning into Spencer for comfort.

Morgan sighed and ran a hand over his near bald head, "That's where things are going to get tricky. We promised to protect you, and we will."

"But?" Keller pressed, she made it abundantly clear she didn't want to go into protective custody or witness protection.

"You'll have to come back to Virginia with us," Spencer said.

Move from New York to Virginia? That would uproot everything she'd made for herself in the past four years. She and Shea were finally beginning to establish a fan base, she even had a few regular customers who wanted paintings done.

"I understand this may be a lot to take in right now, but it's the only way that we can protect you right now, seeing as you've refused every other option," Agent Hotchner, gave her a stern look like he was trying to get Keller to reconsider her options.

"When do you need me to make a decision?" Keller questioned, if she were to leave she'd need to tell Shea what was happening, explain why she had to leave, pack, arrange a place to stay, maybe find a part time job.

"Now," Hotchner said.

"Now? What the fuck do you mean now?! You tell me that I have to leave everything I've known for the past four years, or be victim to a serial creep, and I have no time to decide? How do you expect me to get by?"

"You'll be staying with me," Spencer told Keller.

 _Well that's all well and dandy, but,_ "Won't you be away a bunch on cases?"

"W-well yes but, if you come with us there is a good chance the unsub with follow you," Spencer said.

"You say that like it's a good thing," Keller growled.

"If the unsub's MO surfaces in Virginia, we'll be able to track credit cards and phone calls, find out who this person is, and ultimately arrest him before he can harm you or anyone else," Hotchner informed her.

 _The FBI wants to use me as bait... Fucking fantastic._

"But what are you going to do with me while Spencer is away?" Keller asked, she'd get cabin fever if they tried to make her stay at his house all day. Even with all the TV in the world, Keller loved being outside and going on walks.

"Our technical analyst, Penelope Garcia, stays behind and helps from our office at Quantico, you'll be with her, while Reid is away," Hotchner explained.

 _He's just thought of every-fucking-thing, huh?_ "You said she's only a tech analyst, right? If someone does try to attack me, what's she going to do? Hit him with a keyboard?"

Hotch glared, clearly not liking Keller's joke, "She has specific instructions on how to keep you safe."

"You can trust her," Derek added.

"And when you aren't with Garcia, there will be an officer posted outside Reid's apartment," Hotchner said, before Keller could even ask.

Keller sighed and glanced over at Spencer, he was watching her with nervous eyes. She couldn't be angry with him, even if she wanted to, this wasn't his doing. She understood that there were other people who needed this team's help, Spencer had said they were the best in their field. As Keller looking into Spencer's hazel eyes she made her choice. She didn't want to leave Spencer. "Fine, I'll come to Quantico."

"Good, jet leaves in two hours," Hotchner said.

" _What?!_ " Keller snapped.

"Better start packing," And with that Hotchner and Derek left her alone with Spencer.

Keller was dumbfounded. She had to be packed and ready to leave in _two hours?_ What about Shea? Keller couldn't just leave without saying goodbye, and Shea _loved_ long winded goodbyes it sometimes took her fifteen minutes to get off the phone with people. She'd need to pack up her wardrobe, collect all her paintings and wrap them up so they didn't get damaged. _Ugh! I think the FBI might be trying to kill me._

Sitting a few more minutes trying to think of a game plan, Keller decided to call Shea, she could come over and help pack, that way they'd have some time together and Spencer could start taking the paintings from the walls. Keller wasn't ready to let Spencer help her pack up her underwear. He'd already turned into a tomato once when he'd come from the shower to find Keller on the sofa folding her undergarments.

Shea was at Keller's door within ten minutes of Keller's text. Her eyes were teary but she did a good job of not bursting into tears... Yet. Spencer had explained the situation and why they were doing this and that Keller would be safer where they could keep an eye on her.

In Keller's room, Shea was, helping Keller sift through her closet, tossing things Keller rarely wore into a donate pile. Thankfully Shea brought over cardboard boxes, to pack everything up in. Keller was always amazed by Shea preparedness, but then again the other woman did switch apartments at least two to six times a year, always finding something she didn't like, that she'd obsess about until she couldn't take anymore and move.

"Why do you have so many of these dresses?" Shea asked, holding up a knee length black dress, with a corseted top, lace trim and bows along the hem.

"I like the gothic style," Keller explained, she had _a lot_ of gothic style clothes, buying them more than she bought food.

Shea shrugged and folded the poofy dresses neatly before putting them in boxes. Keller pulled everything out of her dressers, and packed up bathroom supplies. With everything important packed away, Keller sat on her bed and looked around the empty room, Shea had promised to take take of everything else, putting her bed and furniture into storage.

She plopped next to Keller and slung her arm around Keller's shoulder, making Keller tense up momentarily. "I'm going to miss you, Kells."

"I'm going to miss you too, Shea," Keller replied. Arm slowly coming up to hug her only friend in this city. Tears sprung to Keller's eyes, and she choked them back. She only had half an hour left, and she wouldn't spend it crying over the life she was walking away from. A life she didn't even care for that much. If she left, she and every other black haired blue eyed girl would be safer, at least that's what she kept telling herself.

Keller pulled away and picked up a box, Shea got the door to Keller's bedroom before picking one up as well. Spencer was sitting on one of the sofa's and looked up at the women as they came out, "Can you get doors?"

"Oh! I, um, yeah!" Spencer stuttered, opening up the first door. It took four trips, each of them rotating who got boxes and who opened doors, until everything Keller owned was packed away in Spencer's SUV. Shea followed them to the airport, where Agent Hotchner told them to meet up.

Shea gave Keller one more long, hard embrace, which Keller returned. "I'll be here when you get back. I won't let Nexus die."

Keller stiffened. No, Shea wouldn't let Nexus die, but Keller was ready to let her go. When she came back, correction, _if_ Keller came back, she and Shea would have to have a long talk about who Nexus was, and what she meant to both of them. "Bye, Shea."

Flight attendants loaded up Keller's boxes, onto a large plane and Spencer escorted her onto said plane. They didn't even have to go through airport security. _Must be perks of being an FBI agent._

On board Keller's eyes widened to the size of dinner plates, there was a large flat screen TV on the opposite wall, and white leather couches and chairs were set up, with plenty of foot room, and some of the chairs even had tabled in front of them. _Must be first class._

Spencer pointed to a set of four chairs, one of which was occupied by a blonde, Keller recognized her as the press liaison. Her name was Jennifer, if Keller remembered correctly, she was sitting in the aisle seat and looked up smiling when Keller and Spencer approached.

"Hi, you must be Keller. I'm Jennifer Jareau, you can call me J.J.," She stood and held out her hand, which Keller took tentatively and shook. J.J. had a sweet smile and kind eyes. Sitting in the window seat, Keller let Spencer take the seat in the aisle, across from J.J.

A little while later Mogan came aboard wearing headphones and flipping through his music as he took his seat. Next the female agent came on and sat in one of the other leather chairs, Keller couldn't quite remember her name. _Emma, maybe._

Finally, Hotchner and an older man with a salt and pepper goatee got on the plane. Hotchner addressed everyone, "Are we ready to go?"

A few of the agents voiced their confirmation and Agent Hotchner went to the front of the plane, a few minutes later he was back and the plane began to roll down the air strip. "Wow! Was the plane, like, waiting for you guys to get on or something?"

"Yeah, this is the jet we use to get around," Emma answered.

"So, you guys own this?" Keller questioned.

"I told you we had a jet," Spencer said.

"I didn't think you were serious!" Keller told him, looking out the window, she'd never been on a plane, much less a private jet. Everyone seems very comfortable with flying, but Keller kept waiting for the thing to fall from the sky.

"Hey, Spencer?" Keller said, while looking out the window. When he didn't answer Keller looked over at him, he was rereading one of the books he'd picked up, his eyes swiveling back and forth rapidly, as he slid a long finger down the page.

Keller gently tapped his arm to get his attention, he jumped a bit, startling them both. "Yeah?"

Still having worries about flying Keller asked, "How often do planes get hit by lightning?"

"Well, planes are built to withstand a bolt of lightning, but generally speaking, almost every commercial flight get's hit about once a year, it's very common. But, you don't need to worry, the last time a plane was brought down by lighting was back in nineteen sixty three," Spencer spoke quickly, giving Keller more information than she had asked for, but effectively answering her question. Though it did nothing to calm her nerves.

The flight was only an hour or so long, with no turbulence, for which Keller was thankful. Spencer went through four books, he probably could have gotten through more, but every so often he'd take a break to talk with J.J.

When the plane landed, everyone got into their respective SUV. Keller's things were loaded into a U-Haul that followed Spencer back to the Quantico field office. There the team split up to go home and get some much needed rest, Spencer and Keller climbed into the U-Haul with the driver and Spencer gave him the address of his apartment.

The driver helped unload everything outside the door to Spencer's apartment. Spencer paid the man, denying Keller's offer to split the bill, it was her stuff after all, and with the hoops Spencer was going through to help her, she felt like she should have paid for it all. She'd just have to work extra hard, helping Spencer at his home, to pay him back.

Spencer put his wallet back and dug his keys out of his pocket to unlock his door. _Apartment number twenty three, second floor. Remember that._ Keller told herself, as Spencer fiddled with the lock. Getting it to finally turn over, Spencer pulled his key out and swung the door open, holding his arm out so Keller could enter first.

Keller smiled a small thanks at him as she passed him and walked into the main room of the apartment. The walls were a medium green, with lights hanging on the walls in dark metal holders. There was a brown leather couch near center in the room, light brown pillows with an orange tint rested by the arms, an armchair the same color as the couch was a few feet behind, under one of the lights, a stack of books beside it. Keller walked deeper into the apartment, running her hand along the back of the couch as she did so and went to the windows, she pulled the gauzy pink curtains back to see the view, there unfortunately wasn't much of one.

Turning Keller smiled a bit seeing the large bookcase Spencer had, it was few, which explained he piles of books she kept seeing littering the floor and tables around the place. Reading some of the titles, Keller quickly realized most weren't in english.

Keller turned to ask Spencer something, but tripped over a stack of books she couldn't see, send the books and herself to the floor. _Son of a bitch! Five fucking minutes in his and I'm ready breaking his shit._

* * *

 **Spencer**

* * *

Opening the door and letting Keller in, Reid watched her as she looked over his things. He felt a bit nervous about what she'd think, his desk was cluttered with papers from different cases and stacks of books. There were also books on the floor. But Keller said nothing of the mess and wandered around, her head swiveling back and forth so she could see everything. While she inspected her new surroundings Spencer began carrying her boxes into his home.

It was an old fashioned apartment, but what was part of the charm, Reid had no TV or computer, either being out on a case, or lost in books, going to plays or movie festivals when he had the time. Spencer was about to bring the last few boxes when he heard a crash, coming back in he took in the situation quickly, Keller must not have seen the stack of books that had been on her left side and stumbled over them.

"Are you alright?" Spencer asked, coming to Keller's side.

"Other than my pride, nothing seems to be injured," Keller replied, sitting up and rubbing her arm, which seemed to have taken the most amount of damage. "Are your books OK?"

Reid couldn't help but chuckle. _She falls down and has more concern for my books than for herself? Charming._ "I'm sure they are fine," He responded, picking up a hardcover novel, brushing some grit from the floor off, and using it as the base of the stack. He continue the process and Keller helped, picking up the books, and passing them to him, for which Reid was thankful, organizing them in his own way.

"Sorry again," Keller murmured through a yawn. Reid looks up just in time to see her rub her eye sleepily. While it was only six in the evening, Keller did have a tough morning. On top of that, Reid knew she wasn't sleeping well, often going to sleep to the sound of her pacing around in her room, or waking up at odd hours of the night, to hear her still moving around on the other side of her door.

"It's nothing to worry about. Why don't you rest up?" Reid suggested. He was a bit drowsy himself and the thought of a nap was very appealing.

"Sure, do you have a blanket I can use?" Keller glanced over her shoulder at his leather sofa.

"Oh! Um, you can have my bed while you're here," Spencer said, pointing to a dark wooden door, next to his favorite reading chair.

Keller gave Reid a stern look, one that rivaled that of Hotch, "No, Spencer."

"You've been through a lot, don't worry about me," Reid assured her. But, with the fact his bedroom had been unseen by all his friends and he'd never had a woman over, the way Morgan surely did, it was far messier than the rest of his apartment. With stacks of book _everywhere,_ and Reid hadn't washed the sheets on his bed in three weeks and four days. Maybe it wasn't the best for Keller to sleep in his bed... At least not today.

"Spencer, you've been away from home for weeks. In that time you've had to sleep on a couch that was way too fucking small for a giant like you. You deserve to sleep in your own bed," Keller's harsh gaze softened, and her lips quirked up. Spencer still thought his sofa wasn't good enough for her, but he'd clean up his room, before he tried to convince her that she could sleep in his room.

Maybe he'd carry her to his bed, like he'd done when she'd fallen asleep on her sofa back in New York. Keller had slept heavily enough, the Spencer was able to lift her, with minimal jostling, and she'd hardly stirred. She'd only weight about one hundred and ten pounds, making her an easy weight to bear, and thanks to her deep slumber Spencer had been able to set her down, pull the covers of her bed back, lift her again, and tuck her in. He'd even as a last minute thought, given her her teddy bear to cuddle with.

"OK," Spencer relented. "I'll sleep in my bed."

"Excellent," Kelling grinned, smug.

"But, since you are going to be here indefinitely, while I'm away on cases, you'll sleep in my bed. Deal?" Spencer asked.

"That's fair," Keller agreed, smiling again.

Spencer felt himself smile back at her, and went to his room, leaving the door open a crack, incase Keller needed something while he rounded up the sheets for the couch. There was a small closet where Reid had his suits and dressier clothes hung up neatly, and on a top shelf he had extra blankets stored. He pulled down a royal blue set of sheets, and went back to help Keller get settled on his sofa.

But when he came out, Reid couldn't find her right away. Walking along the couch, Spencer saw Keller was curled up on her right side, with one of his orangy pillows under her head, with her hair spilling around her like slick oil, and the other tucked under her arm. Reid could see she was asleep, though she didn't appear to be sleeping soundly. Keller's kept furrowing her brows and shifting around, and wasn't quite sure, but from this angle he was sure her eyes were moving rapidly behind her eyelids.

Reid understood she'd had a stressful day, and being in a new place may be making to hard for her to get a good nap in, but he could think of something that might make it better. Anytime Spencer had gone through Keller's room in New York to shower or use the facilities, the little stuffed bear was always sitting on Keller's bed, and on the rare occasion Spencer worked up the nerve to sneak through Keller's room while she was still sleeping, Keller had been cuddled up with the bear. Three of Keller's boxes were open, indicating she'd tried to find her stuffed animal.

Carefully, rummaged through the rest of the boxes that were still closed, trying his best not to look at her... More personal items. He was beginning to think that she may have forgotten the animal, when he found it in the bottom of the final box, with a red bra, sporting black lace trim, tangled around the bear's neck. Reid felt his face heat up, and his pulse quickened. Taking a breath, Spencer quickly untangles the fabric and tossed it back into the box.

Once again Reid went to Keller's side and slowly took the pillow away from her. Keller whimpered in her sleep and reached out for the pillow, but Reid replaced it with her bear. Keller snatched it up, and clutched the plush animal to her chest, inhaling deeply and exhaling, Reid watched all the tension she'd been holding melt away.

With Keller sleeping soundly, Spencer got one of the blankets he'd fetched for her and tucked her in. Since she was on her right, most of her face was hidden away by her hair. Reid couldn't help but wonder what she might look like behind the dark veil, he was aware her couldn't see out her left eye. _Could be why she wears her hair to cover her face,_ Reid speculated. _Or an injury she was embarrassed about showing people?_ Being a heavy sleeper Spencer could easily move her hair from her face, see what was hidden and she'd never know.

Reid reached out and gently touched Keller's fringe of hair, it was like silk against his fingers, while the flesh Reid brushed against was satin. Keller's brow's furrowed under Reid's touch, and she moved away from his hand, with a sound between a sleepy groan and a growl of discontent. Spencer pulled his fingers away, feeling shameful at his actions. Was he really going to invade her privacy in such a way? He knew she had a slight aversion to touch, and he was going to take advantage of her sleeping state. No. When she was ready to show him, or tell him more of her past, Reid would listen.

Reid would be there for her.


	7. Chapter 7

**Keller**

* * *

 _"Count by threes you stupid bitch!"_

 ** _Three, six, nine..._**

 _"Out loud, fucking whore!"_

 _"Three, six, nine..."_

 _Slap!_

 _"Tw-twelve, fifteen..."_

 _ **CRACK!**_

 _"Sixteen!"_

 _"I said "COUNT BY **THREES** ", stupid fucking bitch."_

 _"I'm sorry, mommy. Eighteen, twenty-one."_

 _Keller's mother scoffed at her, and gave her sequined belt a few test swings, Keller flinched reflexively every time she heard the weapon crack nearby. Keller held onto the numbers as she counted them out. Her mother had just caught with yet_ another _boy, and after she'd thrown his ass out of her house, her blue eyes, which Keller inherited, narrowed at her unwanted, failure of a child._

 _"Forty-two," Keller whisper, she felt so weak, she was sure her back resembled ground meat by now, she could feel her blood dripping warmly down her legs._

 _Cassandra, Keller's mom came around to the front of her daughter, she was out of breath from the quick succession of lashes upon her daughter. Grabbing Keller by the throat she forced the younger women to look her in the eye. "Still too pretty."_

 _"Sixty."_

* * *

Keller jerked awake with a start, panting, her head whipped from side to side, taking in the unfamiliar apartment. Events of the past few hours come forth.

 _It's ok. I'm safe. I'm in Spencer's apartment. Where is Spencer? In his room, dumbass._

Keller slipped off the couch and nervously shifted, looking at the dark wood of Spencer's door. How would he react if she requested to sleep with him? He'd

probably treat her like a child and tell her to go back to bed. Or in this case couch... _I'm gonna try anyway,_ Keller decided wandering over to Spencer's door. She stood there for what felt like an eternity. Pacing back and forth nervously. _This is fucking retarded! I'm a grown ass woman, I shouldn't be scared over having a stupid nightmare._ Still the thought of being alone right now was what was scaring Keller the most, taking a breath, Keller turned the brass door knob and pushed it open.

The last rays of daylight were shimmering though Spencer's gauzy curtains, which were fluttering in a light breeze coming from the half open window. It'd be perfectly dark soon, on a "normal" night, Keller would be getting ready to go out with Shea where they'd stay out until the sun came up, not having nightmares and planning on crawling into bed with an FBI agent.

The FBI agent in question, was resting on his back, an open book on his chest. _Huh, he fell asleep reading. Cute._ Keller smiled at his mess of hair, it was sticking out in all directions, like he'd been running his hands through it and he was still in his clothes from the plane. He looked so peaceful Keller wasn't sure she wanted to wake him up. She was a big girl, she could sleep on the couch. But the thought of what, or rather, who was after her, made her approached Spencer's bedside.

Reaching out, Keller gently tapped Spencer on the shoulder, before jumping back, he was an FBI agent, Keller wasn't sure if he'd lash out with a knife or his gun like in movies. Spencer stirred a bit, and his book, slid from his chest hitting the hardwood floor with a loud slapping sound, that in turn jolted Spencer awake, making him sit upright his brown eyes wide and startled.

His eyes landed on Keller and he relaxed a bit before he shifted nervously on his bed. He had on simple pajamas, dark brown, worn bottoms and a T-shirt. "H-hey, um, did you need some, um, something?"

"I had a bad dream," Keller mumbled, feeling foolish. This _was_ a dumb idea. Shifting nervously, Keller started to turn for the door, she was used to sleepless nights, this one wouldn't be any different.

Keller took two steps for the door before Spencer spoke up, "Did you want to talk about it?"

"What?" Keller asked, turning slight from the door, so that she could look at Spencer.

"Um, your, uh, dream. Did you, um, did you want to talk about it?" Spener said again, tripping over some of the words.

"No," Keller said a lite to quickly. "No, I don't want to talk about it. But, I don't want to be alone."

Spencer looked a little confused at first but, slow realization came to his hazel eyes, as sleepiness slowly dissipated and he gently patted the spot on the bed next to him. Keller was unsure about it, but padded over and gingerly sat down on Spencer's bed, leaving a foot of space between them. Keller peeked at Spencer from the corner of her eye, and glanced away quickly when she found that Spencer was watching her as well.

"You're shaking," Spencer observed, his voice was quiet, and Keller brought her knees to her chest. "Anxious, defensive posture."

"Quit profiling me, Spencer," Keller warned, but her voice shook, taking away any threat from the serious tone she'd been trying to achieve.

"Oh, I-I'm sorry. But, sometimes I like to talk things through so I can kind of, understand what's happening better," Spencer explained, his hands moving as he talked, a habit Keller noticed in him.

"It's ok," Keller mumbled into her knees, quiet once more. Listening to the din from outside as cars passed and honked their horns, in the distance Keller thought that she may have heard a dog barking. She was so caught up in the new sounds around her, that she almost didn't catch Spencer reaching his arm out.

"Come here," Spencer said, his hand rested on Keller's shoulder and he put on a soft pressure, Keller could easily have pushed him away, or ducked under his arm, had she wanted to. Instead she shuffled closer to Spencer and leaned her head on him. _Why do I keep ending up in his arms?_ Keller wondered, while she inhaled deeply, relaxing as the scents of coffee and citrus surrounded her.

In the stillness, of the protective circle that was Spencer's arm, Keller noticed that he was right, she was trembling like a leaf. Groaning a bit Keller pressed herself more firmly against Spencer's side. _Ugh, he probably does this kind of thing all the time..._ Keller scolded herself, pushing down the wamn butterflies she felt when Spencer squeezed her tighter, resting his chin on the top of her head. But still, the comfort he provided was more than welcome, Keller could even recall the last time she'd been held and cared for in this manner, always taking care of herself. Often times staying awake for days at a time, or getting blackout drunk so she was unable to dream, only having to survive the nightmare of the hangover the next morning.

Keller could feel her eyes begin to get heavy, the shivering had subsided long ago, but Spencer still held on. No words had been spoken between the two, they just held onto one another. "Can I stay in here tonight?" Keller's sleepiness was making her braver and the words just tumbled out. "With, um... with you?" Stiffening when Keller thought of the embarrassment should Spencer say no and send her back to the other room. But, contrary to her fears, Spencer nodded his head, and releasing Keller he pulled the covers back and allowed Keller to settle herself down.

"Could, um, you turn around?" Spencer requested. Keller was confused by Spencer's request but rolled onto her side without questioning him. Normally men liked to strut their stuff when it came time to strip down. Keller felt to butterflies again when she heard Spencer's belt buckle clink softly against his floor, she wanted to chance a peek, but she respected that Spencer wanted his privacy while he changed into whatever he slept in. There was more sounds of clothes rustling before Spencer gave her the OK to roll back over. Spencer was wearing navy blue pajamas, that seemed to be a size or two too big for him, but it was part of his charm.

Scooting over, and making as much room as possible for Spencer, which was quite a bit, seeing as his bed was queen sized, Keller waited, holding her breath, for Spencer to join her. She'd been in many men's beds, just as they had been in hers, but none of those experiences made her feel this anxious and unsure. And all they were going to do was _sleep!_ No fooling around, no nothing! Just sleep! Maybe cuddle, if they were drawn to each other in their sleep, something Keller was secretly hoping would happen, that Spencer would reach out and hold her.

Keller's heart quickened as she felt Spencer's weight shift the bed, a flush of heat began at the top of her head, and crept on all the way to her toes. She was terrified to move, even so much that Keller tried to keep her breathing as shallow as possible, as not to disturb Spencer. "I um, well... Goodnight," Spencer spoke quick and quiet, as he rolled over, and switched his bedside reading light off.

"Night," Keller mumbled back. Stiff as a board Keller tensed slightly when Spencer rolled onto his back. With at least a foot or more between them, and with both parties seeming nervous, Keller was too self conscious to move into a more comfortable position on her side. As the silence stretched Spencer shifted a few times, and after an hour Spencer's breath turned even, and Keller slowly allowed herself to relax. Inch by inch she rolled to her right side, until, through a thick curtain of hair she was able to look and Spencer, who was sleeping on his back, with she arms glues stiffly to his sides above the blankets.

Keller was curious to know if this was how he always slept, stiff and unmoving, or if it was just because she was here and he was nervous about sharing his bed with an unknown woman. Either way Keller was glad he was allowing her to stay in his home, letting her share his bed. Keller let out a small yawn and her eyes grew heavy. Grumbling incoherently Keller stretched into a comfortable position and floated away into a dreamless sleep.

The next morning Keller woke when the bright morning sun hit her eyes, she was profoundly annoyed that Spencer kept his curtains open, that the sun had risen in the first waking her from one of the best sleeps she had in what felt and probably _was_ years. To top it all off, Spencer wasn't even awake yet, and Keller was curled at his side with one of her right arm draped over his chest.

 _Hmm, warm. I could stay like this for a few more hours._ But unfortunately after ten minutes nature called. Keller slowly shifted, and slid quietly out of bed, she smiled at Spencer, he didn't even stir when Keller moved. Now came the task of finding Spencer's bathroom. There had been no quickie tour last night, so now Keller had time to find her way around. Which she didn't mind, though she did hope she for the bathroom before she pissed herself.

Creeping around Spencer's little apartment, Keller quickly found the room she was looking for and did what she needed too. She also brushed her teeth with what she knew had to be Spencer's toothbrush. _My little secret._ Checking on Spencer Keller saw he was still sleeping soundly, but had rolled over and curled into a fetal position.

Keller not sure if Spencer would wake if she tried to climb back in bed with him, quietly shut the door to his room and looked around the small apartment. Stepping around a pile of books, Keller began to snoop though his kitchen. She found a box of pancake mix and a carton with four eggs on it, she stomach growled in agreement that fried eggs and pancakes sounded like a good breakfast too. As she got out everything she'd need, simultaneously leaning where Spencer kept all his shit, Keller couldn't help but smile to herself. She'd never woken to a hot meal, and from what she could see Spencer didn't have a live in girlfriend, so he most likely didn't often. He'd done so much for her in such a short time, cooking breakfast for him was the least she could do.

Getting her phone from the end table by the couch, Keller turned on some music, and hummed and sang to the songs that played while she started preparing breakfast. "Oh, fuch yes! Jackpot!" Keller yipped, finding milk chocolate chips for the pancakes.

* * *

 **Spencer**

* * *

 _Cold,_ Was Reid's first thought when the melatonin in his system began to fade and he started waking up. His foggy brain surmised that he left his bedroom window wide open. His arm reached out, he could remember holding something last night, something warm and soft. But, with sleep still clouding his memory, he couldn't pace his finger on what it had been. _Coffee will help,_ he decided.

Getting out of bed, Spencer stretched and debated if he should take a shower or not. _No, better check on Keller first._ A new dilemma! _Should I change into proper attire or can I stay in my pajamas?_ Reid thought over the pros and cons of the situation. He had seen her in her underwear a thought that made him blush as the image took place in his mind, clear as if it was happening right in front of him all over again.

Reid chose to stay in his pajamas, Keller had already seen them when she came into his room last night. Even without the help from coffee Reid began to recall all the details from last night. Keller nervously waking him, trembling like an autumn leaf ready to drop at an second, asking to sleep with him. How could he say no, he could see the moisture in her blue gaze as she silently pleaded with him to let her stay.

Spencer could remember the extra heat she provided in the night, how initially he'd been on edge about having her sleep in him bed with him, but soon found that her light breathing, body heat, and the way she'd cuddled against his side helped him sleep better than he had since he'd been held captive by Tobias Hankel, his "father," and the angel "Raphael."

Curious to see what she was up to, and her state of well being, Spencer left his room and found her, singing softly to a song that was coming from the phone sitting on his counter, and stirring something in a large bowl. There was flour, eggs and a bag for chocolate chips on the counter as well. _Cookies?_

Keller had stopped singing and was speaking softly to herself, "Where the fuck are the pans? Pan?" She muttered, opening a cabinet, "No, pan," She said, leaving the cabinet door ajar, Reid now noticed that most of the cabinet doors were wide open. She kept this up until all the doors were accessible, and she still hadn't figured out that Spencer kept his frying pans on one of the top shelves. Then again, Keller was quite short, and probably could see it.

The song on her phone when the song changed, from the way she turned and crinkled her nose, she must not have liked it much and changed it. When she picked something she found agreeable Keller looked up, and wiped a hand against her cheek, leaving a white trail of flour. This was also when she spotted him. "The fuck do you keep your pans?"

Spencer still wasn't used to her course language, but put that thought aside. Instead he came over and reached into one of the open cabinets and pulled down two frying pans. Keller took both with a smile. "What are you making?" Reid asked as he got out his coffee and began brewing a pot.

"Chocolate chip pancakes and eggs," Keller responded, pouring batter into one pan, and started cracking eggs in the other. She'd found plates and utensils, and had them scattered about. Reaching to the side with one hand, while the other was still busy cracking eggs, Keller grabbed a spatula and flipped the first pancake. The smell of frying eggs, melted chocolate and fresh coffee filled Spencer's apartment, making him increasingly hungry.

Spencer was adding sugar to his coffee, while Keller flipped the eggs, slid a pancake onto a nearby plate, and poured more batter into the hot pan. She worked well in a kitchen, Reid observed and was able to easily multitask. She'd gone back to singing, focusing on the tasks at hand, only stopping flipping food, when she poured herself a cup of coffee and sipped it black. Reid had no idea how, if he didn't add plenty of sugar, he could hardly drink it, and from his time with Keller at her apartment he knew she liked a fair amount of sweetener as well.

Almost out of batter Keller made one final pancake, that was mainly chocolate chips, which in his hunger he began eating out of the bag. Keller had caught him and instead of scolding him, she had taken a hand full and nibbled them while she cooked. With everything done, Keller passed an empty plate to Reid. "Help yourself," Keller said, smiling.

It wasn't often Spencer had a home cooked meal, often heating up frozen dinners, or eating out with his team, pancakes and eggs were a welcome surprize. Reid took two pancakes and filled the rest of his plate with eggs. Keller followed suit, though she portion was much smaller, she only took one pancake and a couple fried eggs. "Honey?"

"Yeah?" Spencer replied, without thinking.

Keller smiled at him, as she undoubtedly watched Reid's cheek darken, "Um, do you have any?"

Spencer turned quickly to hide his embarrassment, of course she wasn't referring to him as "honey." Clearing his throat he walked passed her careful not to touch as he passed, and pulled down a bear shaped bottle that was half full.

"Thank you," Grinning Keller took the bottle, unscrewed the cap and poured a generous amount of honey onto her pancakes.

"Don't like syrup?" Spencer asked, getting a bottle from his refrigerator.

"It's alright, but I prefer honey," Keller was vague, but Spencer didn't mind.

Often eating alone and not having many friends over to eat, Reid had never invested in a dining room set, so he lead Keller to his couch and sat down. Carving into the pancakes Reid was pleasantly surprised by what a good chef Keller was. The eggs were crispy around the edges, nice and fluffy in the center, the chocolate chips were warm and melty, sweetening the meal.

"These are very good," Reid complimented after swallowing.

"Thanks, I've been cooking since I was like eight, my mom wasn't around much and if it couldn't be delivered, she didn't feel the need to know how to make it if someone else could do it for her," Keller had put her plate on the table in front of her, most of her food had been untouched, and she had a sick look on her face. "Um, 'scuse me."

Keller got up quickly and all but ran from the room. Spencer was stunned and put his plate down to go follow her. She had fled to his bathroom and Spencer tentatively lifted his hand to knock but dropped it slowly. He'd been a similar situation not to long ago and working up his courage he lifted his hand once more and rapped his knuckles gently around the wood.

"I-I'm alright Spencer. I just need a minute. I don't feel well," Keller's voice was muffled through the door, and Spencer tried the knob, of course she'd locked it.

"Was it something that you ate? Because I feel fine," Spencer informed her, trying to figure out what had made her feel ill so suddenly.

"I don't know Spencer, but it'd like to be alone," Keller had an annoyed edge to her voice, but Reid wasn't going to relent so easily. He was beginning to understand more, when she was upset she shut herself away, it was the same as when they'd been in New York and Keller locked herself in her room. While alone time was beneficial, leaving issues to fester and be blown out of proportion wasn't mentally healthy.

"Keller," Reid pleaded keeping his voice as gentle as possible, "Please, let me in."

Reid thought he heard Keller sigh, and through the door Spencer could here a light rustling and the hushed click of the lock. Taking a breath, mentally preparing himself for whatever was on the other side of the bathroom door. Keller was sitting on his bathmat, leaning against the tub, her knees were pulled up to chest, with her arms wound tightly around her legs.

"Hey," Reid said quietly.

Keller flinched a bit at the sound of his voice a curled in tighter, "Hey."

Cautiously Reid approached and sat next to her on the soft, slightly damp mat, leaving a foot of space between himself and Keller. Turning to her after a few moments of tense silence, "Is there anything I can do?"

Keller took a deep breath and let it out slowly through her nose, before turning her head to look back at Spencer, with a detached look in her blue eye, "Distract me."

Spencer was about to ask Keller if she wanted to go out and he'd show her the city, but she quickly grabbed the front of his shirt and like the first time that they met she roughly pressed her lips against his.

But, before Spencer's brain could overrule his body's instinct to procreate, he had gently taken her face in his hands and returned the rough kiss. Keller however grabbed Spencer's wrist soon after it made contact with the left side of her face, her nails biting into the flesh before her hold relaxed and she moved Reid's hand lower, to her breast.

The cool metal loop that was pressing around Reid's lips was an odd sensation, one that he _had_ experienced before, however from the prolonged kiss, Spencer found that he quite enjoyed. Keller parted her lips slowly and when Spencer went to deepen the kiss, Keller gently sank her teeth into his lower lip and tugged lightly. When she broke away from him, Reid saw her darkened eye, and it snapped him back into reality.

Coming in for her second attack, Reid quickly held his hand up to block Keller's advance, his fingers brushing her soft, slightly puffy lips, and with a quick, jerking movement, took his hand away from her chest, but contrary to the lack of contact Spencer could still feel her tight nipple where she'd been rubbing it against the palm of his hand. "I, um, we, we can't do this," Reid stammred.

"Oh?" Keller's tone was husky, and Spencer was having a difficult time standing his ground, becoming more aware of his growing erection as Keller took his index finger into her warm mouth and sucked it hard, until it popped from her mouth and she gave his a seductive look, pushing out her chest and biting her lower lip. "And why not?"

"This type of contact is highly inappropriate!" Spencer squeaked out, when she began giving the same treatment of his index finger to his middle finger.

"How so?" Keller's hand reached out and touched dangerously close to Reid's throbbing erection.

"I'm a fed-federal agent, and I'm supposed to protect you and keep you safe. Not fraternize with you," Spencer explained, he could still see an odd look in Keller's seductive gaze, as if she was just going through the motions.

"And fucking me on your bathroom floor will put me in danger?" Keller's grin was teasing and Reid felt himself go red at her crass use of language.

"No! But, I'm not supposed to step over certain lines, and this is one of them," Reid's voice came of stern, even if it was a little higher than what was normal for him.

"I won't tell if you won't," Keller wrapped an arm around Spencer's neck and made to pull him in.

Reid gently took her wrist and removed her arm and stood up, "I'm sorry, but I can't."

Keller stood as well, and looked up at Spencer, a mix of emotions flew across her face, confusion, sadness and finally anger, "Well then," She stared calmly, "Fuck you!"

Spencer flinched twice, one when Keller screamed in his face, and again when she turned sharply, left the bathroom and slammed the door so hard behind her a crack formed in the drywall, leaving Spencer stunned and confused.


	8. Chapter 8

**Spencer**

* * *

The next four days were tense, to say the least. Keller hadn't yelled at Reid again, but she also didn't say more than she had to. Reid did his best to keep his distance and give Keller the space she seemed to require. But often during the quiet types when Reid was on his couch reading, and Keller was drawing somewhere in the apartment, Spencer often found that she would watch him from across the room, her look thoughtful, sometimes bordering on forlorn. Reid wasn't sure what these looks meant, but every time he caught her gaze she would quickly look away, and her look would harden to one of indifference or annoyance.

Still, even if she hardly spoke to him, she still crept into his room late in the night and would sleep at his side. The first time since their little altercation, Reid didn't think too much about it, she had been gone by the time that he woke up, but it happened the next night again, Spencer had woken to find Keller snoozing at his side, and again she was gone before the first rays of light.

There wasn't anyone Red could talk to about the odd behaviors; Hotch would remove him from the case, or move Keller somewhere else, which Reid didn't want. Even though Spencer had only known Keller three weeks, he felt close to her and wanted to be the one to keep her from harm's way. Morgan would mercilessly ridicule him about his lack of skill when it came to women. J.J. would probably try and tell him what he already knew; he could not have a romantic relationship with Keller while she was his ward.

Reid sighed and ran his hands through his hair, through the long sullen silences Keller revealed little bits of herself when she was on guard she gave nothing away, but when she was calm, or didn't know Spencer was watching he found little things out about her. She didn't like reflective surfaces where she could see herself clearly, whereas most young women would take the opportunity to primp, Keller averted her gaze, often using her long hair as a shield. She also had a distaste for tomatoes and onions but used them when she cooked. Keller also showered for a very long amount of time, meaning she stayed in until there was no hot water left, Spencer learned this when after almost an hour she left the bathroom, and Reid had to take a shower with ice water.

But, even so, he was glad to have her, something about the way she went about things brought light to his home, even if she was upset with him. Keller hung up paintings around his house, cleaned when her hands got stiff from drawing and smiled to herself when she thought Reid wasn't watching her. But his time off after a case was coming to a close and he'd be going back to the office today.

Keller was ready to go, wearing knee high boots that added an extra two and a half inches to her height, black skinny jeans that were graying at the knees, and a black tank top with white skeleton hands cupping her breasts. Reid licked his lips and looked away quickly before Keller caught him staring at her chest. Getting his messenger and go bag ready Reid opened the door for Keller, and they made their way to the Quantico field office.

* * *

 **Keller**

* * *

It had been almost a week since Keller made her advance on Spencer, and been promptly rejected, which stung... A lot. But, what could she do? She needed his protection, for the time being, that is and more than that she liked him, he had a shit ton of goofy quirks that were very endearing to her. But, like most things, she'd fuck it up, if she hadn't already.

Spencer was finishing up getting ready, grabbing two bags, one a light brown leather messenger bag and the other a black duffle. His tie as crooked as always, even after spending ten minutes trying to straighten it. Keller smiled and glanced away when he started to tip his head towards her. He'd mentioned last night he had to go back to work today, and Keller was waiting by the door for him.

Chancing a glance at him, Keller saw him quickly look away, though he'd been looking lower, not at her face, peeking down at herself she made sure she didn't have any food from breakfast on her front. No food, but the shirt she'd thrown on this morning was a bit of an eye catcher. At least she knew Spencer wasn't completely oblivious to her body. Which most likely from his rejection, meant he was loyal to his girlfriend, even though there were no signs he had one, which made Keller feel like a total asshole. Maybe she'd call Shea later and vent about what was going on in her ever fucked up life.

Keller jumped a bit when Spencer reached past her to open the door to his apartment for her, hiding it by adjusting her two bags one that was filled with art supplies and the other a change of clothes, just in case. Keller kept close to Spencer as he leads her to the FBI building, which was not nearly as impressive as Keller had imagined it would be. She'd been expecting to see a fifty-foot tall gate topped with barbed wire, and snipers, sitting in watchtowers.

Inside there were men and women in suits bustling about, all the activity made Keller anxious, but when Spencer rested a soft hand against her lower back and guided to into an elevator, the tingles which she failed to ignore, gave her something else to focus on. The elevator halted on the sixth floor, and opened to a vast space, the level they were on had large private offices, and down a flight of stairs were rows of desks. Keller recognized Morgan but didn't interrupt as he talked and smiled with a short, slightly chubby women with blonde hair, touched with pink highlights and glasses. She was dressed rather eccentrically, and Keller wasn't sure if she even worked here, considering how professional everyone else Keller had seen looked.

Spencer was walking past them when the woman broke away, "Hi, Nexus! I am Penelope Garcia, the one, the only the _amazing!_ " Keller was a little startled by how loud and energetic the woman was and how quick her approach was.

"Oh, um, hi," Keller said, her hand was grabbed by Penelope who beamed widely at her.

"She, uh, prefers to be called Keller," Spencer murmured, he had dropped his hand and taken a small step away.

"My apologies. Keller," Penelope tested the name and grinned again. She had a sweet round face and Keller couldn't help but smile back at the pink and blonde haired woman. _So this is who I'm hanging out with while Spencer is off saving the world._

Just then, J.J. walked up to the group quickly, with an arm full of folders, "Hey, we got a bad one."

"How bad?" Derek called, J.J. hadn't stopped walking.

"Florida," Was as she said as she went on her way. _What's wrong with Florida?_

Reid followed after J.J., leaving Keller with Penelope and Derek, "Remember what I said, trust your gut," Derek addressed Penelope about what must have been their conversation before she and Spencer had walked up, and left the two women.

Penelope's mood seemed to droop, and she heaved a sigh, "Come on, I'll show you my Batcave."

The statement made Keller cringe internally, she was all for bringing a woman home here and there, but Penelope wasn't her type. Sure she was cute but, Keller preferred girls with the same physicality as her own, much easier to control if things took a kinky twist.

Penelope escorted Keller into a small windowless room, with computer screens everywhere, on the opposite side of the room, was a large desk with little toys and knick knacks everywhere. "Cool cave," Keller complimented as she peered around the small office.

"Yeah, it's pretty sweet in here," Penelope agreed, sitting down in her chair. There was a similar chair in the corner which Keller took. Penelope started rapidly snapping her fingers against the keys of her many computers, and they all lit up filtering through different information, I must have made sense to her, but Keller was experiencing sensory overload and looked away from all the screens.

Keller began pulling out her sketch pad along with darkly colored pencils, and then she sat, quietly contemplating what to draw to make the time go by. Penelope was clacking away at her keyboard, while Keller sat, pencil in hand staring at a blank sheet of paper so full or potential if she could just decide what to do.

There was a soft tapping on the door, Keller glanced up from her blank sheet of paper, whereas Penelope lets out a shriek, and spun around in her chair one hand clasped to her chest and breathing heavily. "Who's at the door, no one ever knocks on my door," She rambled, getting up and going to open the door.

Spencer stood in the doorway, "Reid? What do you want? Shouldn't you be going?"

"Yeah, um, I mean, I'm going to. I, uh, just thought I'd, um, come say goodbye to, um, Keller," He stammered.

Penelope cocked her head like an adorably confused puppy and nodded, "Okay." She went back to her wall of flashing screens and plopped down in her chair. Keller got up, set her things down in her seat and stepped out of the room.

Shutting the door behind her enough, so the latch didn't click, Keller looked up at Spencer. "Heading out?" _What a stupid question! He just said he was fucking leaving._

"Yeah, uh, we got a case in Florida," Spencer replied.

"How bad is it?" Keller asked, knowing that most of the cases Spencer and the team went off on were murder cases.

"A, um, ahem, a nineteen-year-old girl had her throat cut, fingers cut off and an inverted pentagram carved into her chest," Spencer whispered.

Keller shuttered, and crossed her arms, looking away as Spener's sensitive greenish brown eyes bored into hers, gauging her reaction, "You'd better go and catch the guy who did this."

"I will," Spencer gave Keller a weak smile began he started to turn and go meet up with the rest of his team.

Keller, however, grabbed his hand before he was out of her reach. Spencer turned to look down at her again, and confusion was written all over his face. Standing up on her tiptoes Keller wrapped her arms around Spencer's neck and rested her head on his shoulder, "Come back safe. OK?"

Spencer awkwardly rested his hand just above Keller's hips. "I'll try. But Rossie did say, ' _Lasciate ogni speranza ch'entrate._ '"

"Did you just ask me if I want lasagna?" Keller asked, knowing the language was Italian but not knowing any of the words.

Spencer chuckled a bit, "No, it's from the book, _Dante's Inferno._ "

"Abandon all hope, ye who enter here," Keller murmured, familiar with the book, or at least that single line.

"Yeah, that's right. You've read the book?"

"No, but someone I painted for loved it. Read it to me while I was painting, but I was so distracted, I didn't pay much attention, except to that one line," Keller explained, she dropped back to her proper height, but still had her hands on Spencer's shoulders.

"I'll read it to you when I come back," Spencer promised.

"Go catch your flight, I'm sure everyone is waiting for you," Keller said, self-consciously dropping her hands to her sides.

Spencer nodded and turned away with a little goodbye wave, Keller ached to go with him. He wasn't out of her sight yet, but she missed him already. Sighing to herself when she finally lost sight of her favorite FBI agent, she went back to Penelope's Batcave and sat sullenly down in the chair provided for her.

"That was a long farewell," Penelope mused after a little while.

"I'm a sucker for a drawn out goodbye," Keller responded, in truth, she hated long goodbyes, preferring quick, clean breaks. But with Spencer she didn't want to say goodbye, Keller didn't want him to leave her. A thought that irked her. Why the fuck was he so much different than anyone else she'd ever been with? But there was something she was dying to know, "Does Spencer have a girlfriend?"

Instantly Penelope burst into a fit of laughter, "Are we talking about the same Spencer Reid?"

"I think so," Keller said, not sure why the thought of Spencer having a girlfriend made Penelope laugh so hard. _Oh fuck no! He couldn't be!_ "Is he gay?"

Penelope only laughed harder and wiped tears from her eyes, and Keller waited calmly for her answer. "No I don't think Reid is gay, but it would explain why he can't get a date. Haven't you noticed how awkward he is with girls?"

"I just assumed he had a possessive girlfriend," Keller admitted, her stomach did a little flutter knowing now that Spencer was single, and not gay.

"In the years I've known Reid, I don't think the poor boy has even had a date, let alone a girlfriend," Penelope informed.

 _Nice to know,_ Keller thought to herself feeling a little weight lifting from her shoulders, leaving only the question of why he rejected her. Maybe she just wasn't his type, a possibility that annoyed Keller to no end.

Still snickering to herself Penelope returned her attention the screens and began typing away. Hours crawled on by, and the only thing that Keller could draw was what she was seen directly in front of her. It wasn't her best work seeing as she was using her off hand, but the image came together nicely; Penelope's wild hair over the top of her chair, the ever flashing screens.

Penelope was leaning in her chair, her fingers still, the computers were still flashing through information that she was filtering through when her phone went off. Tapping a button with the pen that she was twirling between her fingers, and haughtily said, "Hear ye, hear ye, the Honorable Penelope Garcia presiding! Speak and be heard."

Keller glanced up from her paper, curious about who was calling and what they were calling about, hoping it was Spencer. They had exchanged numbers shortly after he moved in with her back in New York, and she'd thought about calling him numerous times but didn't want to get in the way of the case or distract him from his duties in any way.

Scooting a little closer, so Keller was looking at Penelope, she could see from the way her mouth dropped, and her eyes widened, whoever was on the other end of the call, Penelope had not been expecting. Which was confirmed by the way, she stuttered over her response, "Yeah, um, h-how's it going?"

Keller was inquisitive about who Penelope was talking to, as her face lit up with a smile, and her cheek turned rosy, "Happy I could be of service." Surprise washed over her face next, "You don't have to." Whoever was on the other end had the woman stunned all she could do was repeat, "Tomorrow night."

At least until she started to fake a cough, which had Keller confused, she'd seemed quite pleased to hear from this person at the onset of the call, "I'd love to see you tomorrow, but I am coming down with something."

Something on Penelope's screens seemed to have caught her attention, and with a glance, Keller saw the faces of different women pop up. Penelope told her mystery stranger that she had his number and hung up, and tossed a slip of paper into her wastebasket, only to dial someone else.

There was another pause as whoever she called picked up and answered their phone, "I just sent you the ID's for the ten fingers found in Abbey's stomach. None of which belong to the same woman."

Keller was wrinkled her nose up, and the thought of someone eating fingers creeped her out.

The person on the other line must have asked a question, "Yeah, prostitution records made them easy to identify, they were working in the areas around Bridgewater."

Keller waited patiently to voice her questions, and was about to when Penelope said, "Anyway, bye." But paused in hanging up her pen barely hitting the button on her phone. "I'm not in the mood."

"Well, that guy from the coffee shop this morning called and asked me out," _So that was the mystery caller._ "I took your advice and said no."

Penelope's expression turned to one of annoyance as she said, "Huh, you are some profiler," her voice filled with sarcasm. "You could tell how bad he was for me from what little I said. Was it that he was too smoking hot? Or that he was interested in me? Just because _you_ wouldn't hit on me doesn't me that no one else would! Hey, Derek, you want snappy? Screw you!"

With that, Penelope lifted her phone and slammed it down. Keller sat tensely, hoping Penelope didn't take her anger for Derek out on her. There was a moment of silence, where Penelope grabbed her trash bin and plucked that bit of paper she'd tossed out not five minutes ago out and called the first man back, saying that she bug passed and she'd love to do dinner.

"You go, girl," Keller said after another lull.

Penelope gasped and held a hand to her chest, much like when Spencer knocked on the door hours ago, "You are so quiet I forgot you were even in here."

Keller shrugged, "Didn't mean to startle you. Wanna talk about who you're going to dinner with tomorrow?"

Smiling, Penelope spun her chair around so that she was directly facing Keller. "Well, I met this guy this morning at a coffee shop I got to almost every day."

Keller listened intently, as Penelope told her all the details on how she'd fixed his laptop, their exchange of contact information. How Morgan said it was a bad idea for Penelope to go with him. Keller witnessed how that turned out.

Flipping to a blank page, Keller smiled up at Penelope, "So, just how "smoking hot," was this guy."

Penelope went into great detail, and Keller made a rough sketch, she was better at visual art, things she could see, touch, and manipulate whether in her mind or in front of her, but it was fun talking with Penelope and drawing her date; Colby.

Hours later, Keller had decided she'd let Penelope work, the girl needed to focus, and now that she'd vented about Derek and talked about her love interest she seemed to be in a far better mood. With Penelope working away into the night, Keller thought it might be a good idea for her to get some rest, she had swung her legs over the arm of the chair and her shoulders against the other, it wasn't the most comfortable, but it'd do for now.

Penelope talking roused her from her sleepy daze, "I haven't got anything so far," She informed whoever was on the other end of the call. _Wonder if she'd going to give Derek another earful._ "Yep, I'm checking the names aginst mental hospital records." Pausing for a bit to listen to what the other person was saying, Penelope nodded after a bit, "Got it talk to you later."

But Penelope stopped before hanging up complaining that she hated profilers before she explained how she'd met Colby and then hung up her phone.

"Who was that?" Keller asked.

"Prentiss," She said.

"Which one is that?"

"Tall, dark and beautiful," Penelope explained.

"Oh, right! Emma," Keller nodded, knowing who Penelope described.

"Emily," Penelope corrected.

Keller made a humming sound. _Close enough._

Another handful of hours ticked on by, Keller had been drifting in on out of sleep, and every time she roused Penelope was still working tirelessly. _What the fuck do they put in the coffee?_

The next time Keller woke up, it must have been early morning, or maybe it was still night time, there was no way to tell in the dark little hole, but Penelope was on the phone again. This time, however, it was on speaker, "So I can't find anyone in Florida with the impressive qualities of Satanist and Cannibal. But Hazlewood institution is where you want to go if you're looking for dangerous wack jobs. But they had a fire in nineteen ninety-eight that destroyed all their records."

"How far away are we from Hazelwood?" Officer Asshat.

"Seventy miles," Keller perked up at the sound of Spencer's voice.

"J.J. let them know we are coming. Reid," Spencer must have known from whatever the look he got from Grumpy what was expected of him.

"Can I have a minute?" Spencer asked.

"Sure. One minute," Agent Hotchner said, Keller had no clue if he was serious or if that was his idea of a joke.

There were sounds of shuffling from the phone, and after a moment of quiet Spencer spoke again, "Hey, Garcia."

"What's up Boy Wonder?" Penelope responded she seemed to have nicknames for almost everyone on the team.

"Um, h-how's Keller?"

"She's good, she's sleeping right now," Penelope told him. "Want me to wake her up so you can talk to her?"

Spencer cleared his throat, "No, no, that's alright. Let her sleep."

"You sure?" Penelope prodded.

"Y-yeah," There was the soft click of a phone disconnecting and Keller smiled to herself. Spencer had asked about her. It most likely didn't mean more than he was check in on how his roommate was, but still, Keller was touched.

"Awake?" Keller jumped at Penelope's question.

"Maaaaaybe," Keller drawled.

"Any reason you were asking about Reid earlier?" Penelope questioned.

"Just curious about the guy I'm living with," Keller deadpanned.

"Mm- _hmm_!"

"Which one of us has a date? Cause it sure as fuck ain't me," Keller teased.

"Oh, sweet Jesus! I forgot about my date tonight!" Penelope shouted, standing quickly. Her legs wobbled a bit and sat back down.

"You good?" Keller stood and went to her side.

"Yeah, but when you sit for fifteen hours, your legs forget to work," Penelope stood again on much steadier legs. Keller knew exactly what she meant, often losing hours upon hours when she got engrossed in a painting or drawing.

"Mind if I hang with you?" Keller asked as they exited the Batcave. It felt strange to be in Spencer's apartment without him there with her.

"Yeah, I don't mind, you can help me get ready for my date," Penelope nearly squealed with glee.

"Fair trade, but I need to sleep in a real bed, or at least on a nice couch before I'm ready to watch you try on fifty different outfits," Keller teased through a yawn. Penelope giggled and looped her arm through Keller's guiding her out of the building and to her home.

The morning light was just beginning to shine light on everything, illuminating a little courtyard in front of a brick apartment building. Walking up four flights of stairs, Penelope opened up her door. Her home was much like her office, full of color with little decorations and toys littering all available surfaces. There was an open archway with a bead curtain leading into what Keller assumed was Penelope's bedroom.

Parking her ass on Penelope's couch, Keller arched and stretched until her back made four separate snapping sounds. "I think I just broke my fucking spine," Keller laughed, sleep deprivation was catching up with her.

Penelope snorted through her nose and watched as Keller got cozy, One arm tucked behind her head a leg hanging off the sofa. "Need a blanket?"

"Nah, this is," Keller paused to yawn, "Good." Penelope went to rest herself, leaving Keller alone to think about her change of surroundings, it had only been a day and a half, but Keller longed to be back in Spencer's apartment. Morning coffee with him was one of two reasons why she was up before eight each morning, the other being that she had to piss.

Closing her eyes, Keller stared at the inside of her eyelids for what felt like a short time but turned out to be about twelve hours. Penelope told her so when she woke Keller. Penelope had showered and was in a puffy, pink bathrobe. Keller was slow to get going but after Penelope brought her a small snack and a glass of ice water Keller was ready to do makeup and pick out clothes and help Penelope with her hair.

Keller started with finding the right clothes; that would be the hardest and most tedious part of the makeover process. Penelope wasn't like Keller when it came to dating, for Keller dates were just a way to get free food and drinks and if she was still coherent enough to give the go ahead, a way to get laid. Penelope had nothing sheer, nothing revealing, and nothing that screamed, "fuck me against a dirty bathroom wall."

But, with Penelope's help, they picked out a shimmering shirt and skirt, and Penelope had a very nice, gold embroidered jacket to go with it. Next came hair, which with the short length that Penelope possessed made it quite easy to do, Keller carefully curled Penelope's blonde locks, into lovely ringlets, slightly jealous that her hair was too heavy and curls only lasted an hour, maybe two if Keller got lucky. Penelope did her own makeup, while Keller sat on her dark purple comforter and waited.

"So what time is this dude picking you up?" Keller asked, Penelope had been ready for about a half hour now, and if Keller or Shea ever had to wait that long for a guy, the date was off.

"Should be here soon," Penelope glanced out one of the windows that overlooked the courtyard and street.

Another ten minutes ticked by, until Penelope perked up, "That's him! Wait," Penelope said, glancing at Keller, "Should I take you back to Reid's?"

Keller smiled at Penelope and shook her head, "I'll be alright here. Beside's I'm looking to hear all about your date when you get home."

Penelope grinned in return, "Well, then make yourself at home."

By herself, Keller spent the next few hours looking around Penelope's apartment; it was cozy. Around eleven Keller was sprawled on the sofa watching bad late night TV with a pint of ice cream. She'd changed into comfortable PJ's, a thin tank top and shorts. At midnight there was the sound of brake's squeaking against asphalt, and Keller peeked out the window to investigate, she could see Penelope and her date walking up to the front door, but he was in the shadows making it impossible to clearly see any defining features. There were standing very close, and Keller smirked going back to the sofa, not wanting to invade Penelope's privacy by watching her get a good night kiss.

Taking another bite of the cookie dough ice cream, Keller popped the half eaten pint in the freezer, tossed her spoon in the sink and sat back on the sofa; she was flipping through channels when an unmistakable sound cut through the air. The blast of a gunshot.


	9. Chapter 9

**Keller**

* * *

Keller instinctively ducked when she heard the loud bang, dropping to the floor, and using the sofa as over. She waited for five breaths, waited for more shots, yelling, anything that could give her an advantage. But no more sounds could be heard. _I'm probably just being stupid, someone in the building probably just dropped a metal pot or some shit,_ Keller reasoned with herself.

Getting up from the floor, Keller went to peek out the window to see if Penelope was still with her date or coming up the stair to give Keller all the juicy details of her night. Keller saw neither of those things, for Penelope was laying on the front steps, with a pool of blood forming around her. "Son of a motherfucker!"

Keller sped to the front door, only slipping on a pair of boots, she didn't have the time to think about grabbing a jacket; she needs to get down to Penelope. Keller sprinted down the stairs, taking them two or three at a time, careful not to trip, she would be of no use to Penelope if she too were injured. Rushing through the door, Keller, went to Penelope's side. _Pulse, pulse, where the fuck is her pulse?_ Keller's fingers fumbled around the sides of Penelope's neck, searching desperately for a sign of life, final she felt it and sighed.

"Penelope? Can you hear me?" Keller asked. Penelope only groaned in response. Looking up, Keller saw the contents of Penelope's purse scattered over the courtyard. Keller quickly got up and scanned the area until she found what she was looking for; Penelope's phone and called nine-one-one.

"Nine-one-one, what is your emergency?" The operator asked.

"My friend has been shot!" Keller responded going back to Penelope's side.

"Ok, can you tell me your friend's name?"

"Her name is Penelope Garcia," Keller was trying to stay as calm as she could, given the circumstances.

"Where has she been shot?"

"Um," Keller looked for where the blood was coming from, "Chest."

"Hold your hand's over the wound, keep the pressure on, an ambulance and officers are on the way," The operator informed Keller.

Holding the phone between her cheek and shoulder, Keller placed one hand over the other and pressed down against the wound, Penelope whined quietly, "I'm sorry."

It felt like an eternity before Keller finally heard the wail of sirens and saw the red and blue flashing lights. An ambulance pulled up to the curb and paramedics rushed in, Keller's hands were pushed out of the way and replaced by an older man with quick, alert eyes and she stepped to the side, out of the way. Hanging up with the nine-one-one operator, Keller went through Penelope's phone until she found what she was looking for.

"Hey, Garcia," Spencer's voice said on the other end, "The plane just landed a few minutes ago."

"Spencer," Keller's voice cracked.

"Keller? Is everything OK?"

"It's Penelope, she got shot," Keller told Spencer.

"What?! Hang on I'm going to put you on speaker," Spencer said.

"Please don't, Spencer," Keller didn't trust her voice and didn't want to let Spencer's team hear her cry. "Just tell me what to do, how can I help?"

"Go with Penelope to the hospital, we'll meet you there," Spencer told her.

Keller gave Spencer the hospital name that was on the side of the ambulance, and went over to one of the paramedics, "Can I ride over with her?"

"Are you a relative?" The man asked.

Keller thought up a lie quick, if she said no to his question she'd be locked out of Penelope's apartment, and the idea that this may have been the work of whoever was after her loomed overhead. "Yes, I'm her half-sister, visiting from out of town."

"We are loading her up now, stay out of the way," The guy told her. Keller climbed in after Penelope, and sat in one of the far corners, the ride was a blur as the paramedics shouted to one another and did everything they could to keep Penelope breathing. At the hospital, doctors were waiting, as soon as Penelope was out of the ambulance, they whisked her away for surgery. There were as well as police officers, who escorted Keller inside and began questioning her about what happened.

"I, uh, I was inside when it happened. I heard the shot, and went to see what happened," Keller started trying to remember as much as she could, but everything was so hazy, she knew she had to stay calm if she was going to help Penelope. But now with the adrenaline seeping out of her system she was shaky and couldn't remember anything but Penelope's blood on the concrete steps of her apartment.

"What else?" The officer on the right asked.

"I don't know," Keller said, she was trying to think of something, anything useful but she came up blank.

"Really? Your sister gets shot, and you can't remember anything?" The officer on the left snapped, Keller already didn't like him, she could hardly see him, and his tone made her uncomfortable.

"What do you think Tony? Maybe she had something to do with it," Officer one said, turning to his partner.

"What? No! I would never hurt anyone," Keller shouted, panic rising in her chest.

"We'll see about that," Officer Tony grabbed Keller by her left arm and pulled her toward him, "Why don't we head down to the station? Maybe you'll remember something."

Keller made the motion to rip her arm from the man's grasp by her just tightened his grip painfully and twisted Keller's arm behind her back, "Richie! Give me your cuffs this one's a fighter."

"Hey! Let her go!" Keller twisted enough that she could see Spencer jogging up followed by his team, except Derek.

"Butt out, son," The older cop said.

Agent Hard Ass stepped in, "Is she being charged with something?"

"She might be a suspect. She _is_ covered in blood," The officer restraining her argued.

"Did you happen to think that it's because she was helping her friend?" Hotchner questioned.

"We still have to question her."

"And you can do that once she had had a chance to calm down and get her thoughts straightened out, but until then do as he said and let her go," Hotchner glowered at the officer holding Keller's arm, and it looks could kill, he'd be done for.

Releasing Keller, he stormed away with the other officer and Spencer rushed up, and gently took Keller by the shoulders, "Are you OK?"

Keller's only response was a small nod, she felt tired but at the same time edgy and wound up. Looking down, it was true what the officer had said, her hands were cover in blood, as were her knees from kneeling next to Penelope, and shorts from where she'd anxiously rubbed her hands. Spencer quickly shrugged out of his jacket and draped it around Keller's shoulders.

With a sigh, Keller leaned forward until her head hit Spencer's chest. In response his arms came up around her, one around she shoulders and the other cradled the back of her head. It seemed to take a lot of strength and effort back Keller embraced Spencer as well, clinging to him as if her like depended on it. Keller didn't know how long she and Spencer stayed locked together, but it was Emily who finally stepped in,

Keller didn't know how long she and Spencer remained locked together, but it was Emily who finally stepped in, "Hey, why don't we go clean you up?"

Noticing that she was getting weird looks from other people in the hospital lobby, Keller nodded, and together she and Emily went to find one of the hospital bathrooms. With her hands washed, and legs scrubbed clean of blood, Keller felt minutely better, but she could still feel the residue left behind that soap couldn't wash away.

Back in the lobby Keller sat next to Spencer, putting him on her left, and leaning her head against his shoulder. Spencer after a moment put his arm around her and ran his hand slowly up and down her arm. Keller shouldn't have been taking as much comfort from his touch as she was, after all, there was the possibility that Penelope might not make it off the surgery table, and it could be Keller's fault.

J.J. and Hotch came back a few minutes later, J.J. gave Keller an odd look, or perhaps it was for Spencer, but whoever the look was for Spencer tightened his grip just enough that Keller could feel herself be pulled a little closer to his side.

"Any news?" Agent Rossi asked, upon their return.

Hotch had a try of coffee that he handed to the Italian, to pass around, "She's in surgery, that's all they'd tell us," J.J. said, taking a cup, and giving one to Spencer, he passed, and handed it to Keller. She took a tentative sip and crinkled her nose, it was bad, but she'd had worse and took another sip, letting the bitter liquid warm her.

"Where is Morgan?" Emily asked.

"We've tried calling him; he's not answering," J.J. answered.

It felt like forever, sitting there in silence, every so often, Hotchner or J.J. would get up and try to pry a status report from a passing nurse, but the answer was always the same, she was still in surgery. _I guess it's better than "I'm sorry, she didn't make it."_

The one thing that was keeping Keller from freaking out was Spencer's strong arm around her, a few hours ago, he'd shifted so his head was resting on top of hers and she could smell his coffee scent mixed with citrus. He felt like home, whatever that was right now.

Glancing at the clock, that was hung up on the wall, it was about four in the morning, and everyone was sitting pensively waiting. Shrugging so Spencer moved Keller stood, and muttered, "I'm gonna take a little walk."

Keller had got to the first turn in once of the long, white, sterile corridors before she got the sense that someone was following her, glancing over her shoulder, Spencer was walking hurriedly to catch up with her, "You shouldn't go off on your own."

"Do you think whoever shot Penelope, was after me?" Keller whispered her biggest fear.

"We can't rule it out yet," Spencer said, while it wasn't the answer Keller wanted, she was glad Spencer was honest with her and didn't beat around the bush.

"This is fucking crazy," Keller said, running a hand through her hair.

"Is there anything you remember?" Spencer asked.

"I was up in Penelope's apartment, and I went to look out the window to see if she was home yet, she was, and her date looked like he was going to kiss her, so I went back to sit on the couch and not spy on her. I heard the shot, went back to the window, the guy was o where to be seen, and Penelope was on the steps," Keller rushed through the basics of what she'd seen.

"You saw the unsub?" Spencer asked.

"Not a good look. The guy was at a distance and in the shadows," Keller shrugged unable to be helpful.

"It's a start," Spencer said, placing his hand on Keller's shoulder close to her neck.

When Spencer dropped his hand, Keller laced their fingers together and started walking again. They didn't say anything, and there was no one around, other than nurses here and there doing rounds. "Thanks by the way," Keller said after a few laps around the hospital floor.

"What for?" Spencer asked.

"Not letting me get arrested," Keller said with a soft laugh.

"It wasn't about you getting arrested per say; it was more I didn't like the way that officer was touching you," Spencer muttered.

What he said warmed through Keller, and she turned and hugged him tightly. "We should go and see how Penelope is doing."

Spencer nodded in agreement, and hand in hand they went back to the waiting room. Morgan had arrived, and everyone was updating him on the situation, he'd been in church which was why he hadn't answered his phone.

After a while longer and doctor came up to the group, "Penelope Garcia?"

Everyone stood up, and the doctor explained the extent of Penelope's injuries and what they had done to fix it, saying she was going to be OK and that they could see her in the morning. Knowing Penelope was out of the woods, Hotchner and Rossi decided to check out the crime scene, but not before Hotchner said they were not to touch another case until they caught the guy who'd done this.

"Why don't we go home, and get cleaned up?" Spencer suggested to Keller. She was eager to take a shower and scrub her skin raw.

At Spencer's home, Keller kicked her shoes off and passed Spencer his coat. Instantly he took her arm and scowled at it. There was dark purple bruising in places where the officer had grabbed her. Touching his face, Keller made Spencer look at her, "It's alright; I've had worse."

Slipping away from Spencer, Keller fled into the bathroom, going through the motions of getting clean. It didn't take more than half an hour until she was out and dressed. Spencer was in the shower now, Keller sat quietly, listening to the sounds of running water. That was until her numbness gave way to anger, her sketch pad was still at Penelope's, but she went through her things until she found another and began drawing. She could sit back and twiddle her thumbs while Spencer and his team did everything the could to help Penelope. Remembering as much as she could from Penelope's description, Keller began roughly scribbling over the page, creating a rough sketch that she'd refine later.

She was still hard at work when Spencer came up, and gently patted her shoulder, "Who's that?"

"It might be the dick hole that shot Penelope," Keller growled, staring at her drawing, wanting to find the asshole, and pound his face in.

"I thought you said you didn't see him," Spencer said.

"Penelope was telling me about him the other day. I don't know if this is right, but it's probably close. I hope so anyway," Keller said.

"I got a call from J.J. Garcia is awake. Maybe she can give you more details, and tell us more about what happened last night," Spencer's voice was quiet, as he tried to straighten his tie.

"I'll do whatever I can to help," Keller agreed.

"What happened to Garcia wasn't your fault," Spencer murmured.

Keller looked up at him in shock, "What if it was?"

"You being there last night, may have saved Garcia. No one else came to help, if you hadn't called nine-one-one, she might have bled out and died that night," Spencer's words were a small comfort and Keller gave him a weak smile.

"Let's not keep Penelope waiting. Waking up in a hospital alone can be quite unsettling," Keller said.

At the hospital J.J., Emily and Derek were waiting for them, "Hey," J.J. greeted, giving Spencer a quick hug.

"Can we go see her?" Spencer asked, looking from face to face.

"We were just waiting on you," Derek said, his voice stiff.

"One more thing," J.J. said, stopping everyone, "I talked to Garcia earlier, don't treat her like she's a victim."

In Penelope's room, Derek and Spencer went to her bedside, while Keller hung back by the doorway. Derek hesitated for a second before placing one of his hands on top of Penelope's, "How are you feeling, Baby Girl?"

"Well, the painkillers are wearing off," Penelope said, her voice had a sleepy tone to it, or the doctors gave her some good drugs, and she was high.

"Are you up for a few questions?" J.J. asked, coming over to Penelope's side.

"He seemed so normal, I never even thought he'd hurt me," Penelope groaned, and then she gasped. "Keller! Sh-she was in my apartment last night. Is she OK?"

Spencer cleared his throat, and waved Keller to come stand next to him, "She's fine Garcia, she is the one who called nine-one-one and came here with you."

"Hi, Penelope," Keller murmured.

"Hey, gorgeous," Penelope said in return, making Keller grin. Derek and Spencer asked Penelope a few questions about the guy who shot Penelope, getting his full name, his occupation and what type of car he drove. Near the end of the questioning, Spencer asked if Penelope could describe the guy, and Keller would act as a sketch artist. Penelope didn't hesitate when she agreed, and Keller pulled a chair up so that she could rest her sketch book against her legs.

Spencer and Derek left the room, saying they'd have more questions later and were going to relay the info with Rossi and Hotchner. "So are you OK?"

Keller looked up from flipping through her drawings trying to find the one she'd started from this morning, "A little shook up, but I'm sure nowhere near as badly as you."

"I didn't know you were an artist," Penelope whispered, Keller could tell she was tired, but Derek wanted this done ASAP, wanting to catch the guy who did this to his friend, Keller shared the sentiment.

"I prefer drawing to singing," Keller said turning the page over. On it was a drawing of Spencer sleeping on Keller's couch, Keller grinned thinking of how simple things were a few weeks ago. She didn't notice that Penelope had leaned over as much as her IV's and discomfort would allow.

"Is that why you were asking about Reid?" Penelope had a wide grin and Keller turned the page quickly.

"Maybe. I don't know. My love life is just a shit storm of alcohol, drugs, and one-night stands. And Spencer could do so much better than someone like me," Keller said, finally finding the drawing she was looking for, after skimming through her numerous sketches of Spencer.

"You deserve a good guy," Penelope argued.

"It's a possibility, but I'm sure once this is all over, I'll never hear from Spencer again," Keller sighed. While she wanted this nightmare of anxiety to be over, she wasn't sure if she was ready to be back on her own without Spencer, he was a new constant in her life, a form of stability she hadn't experienced in a long time, or _ever_ for that matter. "Can we keep this between us?"

"Of course," Penelope assured, reaching over and resting her hand and Keller's, though she winced while doing so.

"Let's get started," Keller stated. First, she showed Penelope what she had so far, and asked for further details, modifying areas that she'd been off on, like the fact there was a deep cleft in Colby's chin. Then she added the smaller less important details, which while small were clear identifying features, like the shape of the eyes and nose, how far apart nostrils were and curvature of his eyebrows.

With the final product done, Keller showed Penelope, "Wow, looks almost like a black and white picture."

"You rest up, I'm going to go give this to Spencer," Keller said standing and exiting the room.

She gave the drawing to Spencer and rubbed up some stiffness in her shoulders, "This is excellent, we'll get this over to the office, and they can start running this image through legal databases. Are you OK staying here, and watching out for Garcia?" Spencer asked.

"Hey pretty boy, aren't _you_ supposed to be watching her?" Derek cut in.

"You know I can handle myself," Keller shot back, arching an eyebrow at him, though he may not have known that since most of her face was hidden.

Derek chuckled and walked away, leaving Spencer and Keller alone, "Are you going to be OK staying here?" Spencer asked again.

"I'll be fine, I think the most dangerous thing here is the bad hospital food," Keller joked, she doubted anyone would be stupid enough to try and harm her or Penelope in a full hospital where help was only a push of a button away.

"If you need anything, call me," Spencer ordered.

Keller's belly did an odd little summersault, and she smirked at his command thinking the domineering act worked for the scrawny FBI agent. "Yes sir," Keller teased, her tone husky.

Spencer cleared his throat, before giving Keller a stiff nod and walking away. Keller watched him until he was out of sight before she went back to sit with Penelope who was sleeping. Plopping herself in the chair, Keller leaned back and stretched out her legs; she wasn't all that comfortable, but she hadn't slept at all in the last twenty-four hours, and anything would do for now.

* * *

 **Spencer**

* * *

Reid met Morgan by the black SUV parked out front, "So," Morgan started, drawing out the word.

"So?" Reid asked slowly.

"Is this going to turn into another Lyla situation?"

"No," Reid cut off Morgan knowing what he was implying, Morgan had relentlessly teased him for months after Reid confided in him about his romantic encounter with Lyla Archer. He didn't want Keller to be treated in the same manner, a situation as Morgan called it.

"OK, OK," Morgan said backing down with a grin. "But so that you know, I think she's sweet on you too."

Reid rolled his eyes and started straight ahead out the window. He needed to treat this as he would any other case, Keller was another victim, and eventually his team would catch the unsub, and then she would be out of his life.

Over the next three days, Reid and his team were basically living at the hospital, going over information with Garcia or just keeping her company, or at the office trying to get any leads and only finding dead ends. Rossi at one point sought to say it was Keller drawing that something must be wrong until Reid showed it to him, and Rossi furrowed his brows at the photo like quality. Prentiss was just as stunned, asked how no one could recognize such a handsome guy.

Morgan and Reid had just finished up another cognitive interview with Garcia and came back to the field office to share their information with the rest of the team. Such as he was someone who had more likely than not failed out of law school or didn't pass the bar exam. After talking back and forth on the unsubs personality and why he chose Garcia, Hotch had J.J. find another FBI analyst to take over while Garcia was out, leaving Reid to go back to the hospital, with Morgan who Reid originally had no intention of bringing.

Going to Garcia's new hospital room, Morgan entered with Reid behind him and paused, Penelope was sleeping in her bed, but Keller wasn't with her. Morgan went to the bathroom door and knocked as quietly as he could to let anyone in there know he was going to come in, but quiet enough that he wouldn't wake up Garcia. Opening the door slowly, Morgan peeked in and shook his head at Reid. "Where could she be?" Reid asked, feeling a touch of panic.

"Relax pretty boy, she probably just went to go and stretch her legs, I can't imagine sitting around a hospital for three days is fun, at least we get to leave," Morgan said trying to calm the young doctor.

Just then Keller crept back in with an arm full of little plastic cups, and she hadn't noticed them yet, until Morgan cleared his throat, making Keller flinch and turn slowly, "Hey."

"Hey," Morgan said chuckling.

"It's the only thing that doesn't taste like ass," Keller explained.

Reid glanced over to see what it was that she had, doing his best not to glance at her chest with Morgan standing right next to him. Keller had commandeered nine cups of cherry Jell-O. Reid took one.

"So I'm not under arrest for stealing Jell-O?" Keller asked, setting the rest of the cups on a coffee table.

"Depends," Morgan teased, picking up a plastic cap "You got spoons?"

Keller scoffed and pulled two out of her back pocket, "These were going to be for Penelope and me, but if it keeps me out of jail I will just eat with my fingers."

Morgan laughed loudly enough that Garcia woke up with a start, "Back already?"

"We've been gone all night," Reid said around a bite of Jell-O.

"Where did all those come from," Garcia asked, looking at the seven remaining cups.

"Donated," Keller said smoothly, though Reid knew it was a lie.

Morgan passed Garia a cup and gave up his spoon.

"Do you need anything?" Morgan asked, sitting on the side of Garcia's bed.

"Besides better food, and maybe something to wear other than these boring hospital gowns?" Garcia quipped.

"I can go get some donations from the gift shop if you want," Keller said.

Penelope laughed, before groaning, "No, I don't want you to get in trouble."

Keller shrugged, "I'd have Spencer cover for me, saying we needed it for top secret FBI business."

The four of them talked and laughed for a while, hiding the empty Jell-O cups when they saw a nurse coming to check on Garcia, Keller wanted to go back out and get more, but Reid talked her out of it.

After a few hours, Keller was leaning against Reid's shoulder; she started when a two sharp knock came, and Hotch swept into the room, "How are you feeling?"

"Well, I've had better dates," Penelope said trying to make a joke, but from what Reid could see from Hotch's posture and expression he was _not_ in a joking mood. "We found encrypted files on your computer." _Oh, not good._ "Are you involved in something that I need to know about?"

"No," Garcia denied.

"What's this about?" Morgan cut in.

"Could the files be connected to whoever shot you?" Hotch persisted.

"I don't know," Garcia stated.

"What's the password?"

"Is this necessary?" Morgan asked.

"It is," Hotch said. "Password."

Penelope had hesitated before she gave it to him, "Gillman Street."

"They don't think Garcia is a security risk?" Reid asked.

"I don't know, but we've been ordered by IA to stop working this case, and until this has been cleared up, you've been suspended. I'm sorry, Penelope," Hotch said before leaving the hospital room.

"Hey, what are you doing?" Reid asked quickly, as soon as Hotch was out of the room Garcia started to pull off the monitoring devices.

Morgan stopped her, "Hey, hey, hey. Listen, we're gong to get this straightened out and we are going to find who did this to you."

"But one of the last things I had said before I got shot was, "Everything happens for a reason," Derek if I lose faith in that, nothing will make sense to me anymore," Garcia said, still making attempts to get out of bed.

"I get that," Morgan assured, still trying to hold Garcia down.

"But, you don't," Garcia replied.

"Then help me," Morgan pleaded.

Over the next forty-seven minutes, Garia explained to then how she was recruited by the FBI, starting with how she lost her parents and ending with why she had encrypted that file and what information she was protecting. Getting to his feet, Reid left the room to find a doctor who would release Garcia from their care. Twenty minutes later and hey were walking out the front door. Hugs were exchanged, Keller looked uncomfortable when Garia pulled her in for a tight squeeze, but she didn't resist. They parted ways at the entrance, and Morgan had volunteered on taking Garcia back to her apartment.

Reid took long strides across the parking lot, Keller trudged behind him, apparently tired from sleeping in a chair almost every night while he was at the office. "Spencer, why the fuck did you park so far away?"

"Sorry, I always park in the first available spot I can find," Reid explained, it was a habit he got from Gideon. The man had said they didn't have time to drive up and down parking lots looking for a better space. "We are almost there."

Reid pointed out his vehicle, an old light blue Volvo. Keller stopped short and stared at the car with a disappointed look on her face, "You drive _that?_ "

"Is there something wrong with it?" Reid always found the car to be very reliable, and other than routine maintenance he never had any issues with the vehicle.

"If it drives than I guess not," Keller said, climbing into the car. On the way back to the apartment Keller kept dozing off in the passenger seat. Out of the corner of his eye Reid observed as carefully as he could, without crashing his car or going through red lights and stop signs, it would start with her eyes drooping, only to quickly snap open and then Keller would shift. Or her head would bob, and she'd catch herself. Reid knew the exhaustion she was feeling, but after his years in the BAU, he was used to feeling tired while on a long case, he just hoped the long hours and restless nights wouldn't weigh too heavily on Keller's shoulders.

At one point Keller almost hit her head on the dashboard when her head fell forward, when she'd nodded off again, Spencer lowered his speed and was now driving eight miles under the speed limit. He paid no mind to the cars that beeped their horns at him, before finally going around and speeding off, as long as Keller was comfortable.

Reaching the parking lot for his apartment complex, Reid learned back in his seat and looked over at Keller, her long hair prohibited him from getting the full view, and while he'd been driving he was only able to watch her from the reflection in the window. The sun was almost completely gone giving everything a purplish tint, the light glinted off of Keller earrings, and Spencer's eyes kept flickering down to the ring that weaved its way through her lip. He could correctly recall how the cool bit of metal felt against his mouth. She looked so peaceful in this light, so lovely; it was a shame that the moment had to inevitably come to an end, while it felt like he could sit and gaze at her all night; she needed to sleep in a real bed and relax for an evening without constantly glancing over her shoulder.

Reaching out, Reid slowing placed a hand on her shoulder and gave a shake. Keller lifted her head and turned so that she could look at him, "We home?"

Grinning at the idea that Keller thought of his home as she's as well, "Yeah, we're home."

"Fabulous, maybe I'll sleep more than three hours tonight," Keller yawned.

"Well if you want to sleep you'll have to walk up some stairs," Reid said.

Keller only groaned in response, getting out of the car and slamming the door behind her, and stomping toward the building, up the stairs and glaring at the door, until Spencer unlocked it and let her in. Keller kicked off her shoes, and stumbled over to the couch, before sitting down slowly. Reid sat next to her, and she closed the distance, resting her head on his shoulder. It took Reid a moment to think of what to do, but it came to him, he put his arm around her, moments like this were becoming natural for him, he no longer got tense or thought "What would Morgan do?"

"You want to know something?" Keller asked after a few quiet, comfortable moments.

"Hmm?"

"I think you might be the only person to hold me like this," Keller said, her voice was very sleepy and she kept yawning every so often.

There were a few emotions that welled up inside of Reid. The first was pride that she felt safe enough to snuggle up at his side and that he was the only man to get this close to her. The other was sadness for her, what type of life must she have lived that she never let anyone get close to her? Sighing Reid tilted his head and pressed his lips against the side of her head, her hair felt like satin against his lips and smelled of vanilla.

She must have felt his lips, "Don't start something you don't plan on finishing."

Keller moved her head from Reid's shoulder and looked up at him with a sharp, accusing look. Reid knew what she meant; there were times like this when they were alone, and they would snuggle, on the sofa, or how Keller slept in bed with him. But after the kiss in the bathroom, Keller seemed to be more careful, hardly ever initiated contact.

"I know," Reid murmured, lifting a hand and he didn't even bother to pretend like he was moving her hair or otherwise, curling his fingers Reid gently run his knuckles against her cheek, her pale skin was free of blemishes. He ached to know what she was hiding away beneath her hair, but he knew he couldn't force her to tell or show him.

Keller leaned in slowly, and pressed her supple lips against the side of Reid's neck, just below his ear, "Goodnight, Spencer."

Reid felt a shiver go down his spine, feeling her warm breath on his neck, watching her saunter away Spencer felt like all the blood rushed down from his brain to his groin, giving him a painfully stiff erection. Spencer grabbed one of his books, hoping that reading may hep the swelling dissipate, but he could only focus on a word or two at a time, his mind kept wandering back to the beautiful woman in his bed. He contemplated taking matters into his own hands, literally but his didn't quite feel like cleaning up the mess. Shower it was.

Standing under the cold spray hardly didn't anything to curb Reid'sarousale, but his body's instinct to protect his vital organs drew the blood away from his groin and to his core. Sighing as thoughts of Keller swarmed in his mind like a swarm of angry bees, Reid dried himself with a soft towel, trying to think of anything but her, but entering is room and having the bathroom light land directly on her sleeping face, made it impossible. He turned the light off and went about putting his pajamas on before he slipped into bed, rolling so a particular organ and his back were to Keller.

Reid spent wheat felt like an hour trying to think of anything that didn't have to do with Keller, and sex, and sex _with_ Keller. But his mind kept slipping and contemplating how opposed she'd be to sexual relations with him. She had after all made attempts to get him into bed prior. But Reid knew better, and after a long hard day fatigue finally overcame him. But, he was not free from the slew of dreams he had, dreams which revolved around Keller.

* * *

 **Keller**

* * *

 _Ring! Ring! Ring!_

Keller groaned and rolled away from the annoying sound. She waited a moment, before letting out a sigh of relief. _Good, it fucking stopped._

 _Ring! Ring! Ring!_

 _God-fucking-son-of-a-bitch!_ The ringing kept going and pausing for a minute or two and then it would just start back up again. _What is so god-fucking-shit-fucking important?_ Flinging the blankets off, Keller cracked her eyes open and rubbed the gross yellowish crust off her eyelashes. Looking over the top of Spencer's sleeping body to check out his alarm clock with read three forty-two in the god damned morning, Keller grumbled a string of obscenities as she left the room, doing her damnedest not to slam Spencer's bedroom door and wake him.

The culprit was sitting on the coffee table, and Keller snatched it up, not bothering to look at the caller ID before she accepted the call and snarled, "What the fucking hell do you want?"

"Where is Reid?" Keller knew the voice. It was Agent Asshat and his question only served to piss her off.

"He's sleeping, and so was I," Keller answered her tone snarky.

"Wake him up nd have him come to Garcia's apartment, the unsub made another attempt on her life and killed a cop in the process," With that he hung up.

 _How am I supposed to go back fucking to sleep now?_ Dropping Spencer's phone back onto the table Keller went back into his room and gave him a few shakes until he moaned and rolled onto his back.

"Is it morning already?" Spencer asked yawning.

"Sorry, no. Your boss just called," Keller explained.

"Did they get a break in the case?"

"Wrong again, the sack of dicks went after Penelope again. I guess he killed a cop too. They want you down at her apartment," Keller told him.  
Spencer got out of bed immediately and started to change. It was then Keller noticed he had a boner, she stifled her giggle and left the room, knowing he liked his privacy when he got undressed. But she was curious as to what caused it, unlike most guys she'd woken up with, Spencer didn't get morning wood, and if he did he was extremely discrete when covering it up. If Spencer were a regular guy she'd blatantly ask him, but since she had to live with him indefinitely it would take some more subtlety than that.

Keller was in shorts and a tee shirt again like when Penelope had been shot again, luckily this time there was no blood on her when they went over to her apartment. "Hey, Spencer," Keller said.

"Yeah?" Spencer replied as he pulled up to a red light his fingers going crazy against the steering wheel with his growing anxiety.

"I got more than three hours of sleep. I think I may have made it to four," Keller's attempt at a joke fell flat as Spencer only's response was to slam on the gas when the light turned green.

Pulling p to the apartment complex Penelope lived in, Keller saw it was full of activity. Police were questioning the residents to see if anyone saw or heard anything. Spencer pulled what looked like a wallet out of his pocket and flashed it at one of the cops who then allowed them into the crime scene. Keller took a deep breath as she walked around a pool of blood, from the way the lights from the emergency verticals flashed over it, Keller knew it was still wet. She had the same reaction seeing Penelope's blood on the steps, the stain was a week old and had the color of rust. "You get used to it," Spencer commented, knowing what caused her reaction

Walking up the step Keller took hold of Spencer's hand and swallowed hard, suddenly feeling like she may start crying if she didn't get her shit together. "Spencer, I don't want to get used to being around crime scenes."

Spencer paused a moment, before pulling Keller into his arms, "I hope you don't have to."

Keller bit her bottom lip to keep the sob from escaping; she wasn't one to cry easy, but ever since Spencer showed up in her life it seemed her whole personality was being flipped upside down. Taking a few deep breaths and drying her eyes before the tears could escape Keller stomped her way up the stairs, wanting and needing to be furious.

Penelope's door was open, and when Keller poked her head in, she saw the whole team was gathered around the shaken up woman, Keller hesitated before going in, Spencer not far behind. With everyone here, they began to talk about the events that lead up to this attack, Keller was too tired to be interested, and took a seat on the floor, using her hand as a pillow. She was hoping to get some rest even if it was just for a few minutes, but Agent Rossi had other ideas because for whatever reason Keller could hear him shouting at Penelope. _Jesus Christ! What did the poor girl do now?_

The yelling was over, or at least Keller thought it was she was so tired that she may have just slept through whatever else was said, but she started when she felt a hand on her shoulder. She squinted up into the warm green eyes of J.J. "I have a couch in my office if you want to sleep on it."

Keller didn't understand the offer at first, but the thought of sleeping made her nod and struggled to her feet, "Fuck yes."

J.J. smiled a bit, and Keller gave Spencer a wave, telling him she'd be with J.J. Keller found herself in a little office, tucked away in a corner with no windows, it reminded her somewhat of Penelope's Batcave, though J.J.'s door had a window in it; she kept the blinds closed. Keller flopped on the sofa after J.J. moved some papers off of it. "So how are things with Spence?"

 _Spence? Hmm..._ Keller didn't think she liked that J.J. called him that. "Good."

"That's good to hear, I was a bit worried he'd have driven you crazy by now," J.J. said with a chuckle.

"Nah, he's a bit of a goof, but he's OK," Understatement of the year.

"Most people can only be around him for so long," J.J. said.

"I'm not most people," Keller responded, wonder what J.J. meant. Keller didn't see anything wrong with the way Spencer was. She liked how full of knowledge he was; she learned something new and usually exciting every day.

"I guess not," Keller didn't say anything else and neither did J.J.

Keller still didn't know if she got any sleep or not, she kept hearing the sounds of papers flipping and pens scratching. Sitting up, Keller glanced at a clock on the wall, five AM. "I'm going to hunt down a cup of coffee," Keller announced, "Want some?"

"No, thank you. Last time I had coffee in here I spilled it all over some important case files," J.J. said, not looking up, Keller left the little office and used her nonexistent sense of direction to find a coffee machine hopefully. Where Keller ended up was not where she wanted to be. She stood outside two large glass doors, she'd been in that room before, she wondered about going in and asking out of the guys where a girl could find a good cup of coffee, but she paused with her hand on the handle. Something was _not_ right.

At one of the desks a man paced, rubbing his hands together while he looked around, he wasn't in a suit like everyone else but a cop uniform, every fiber in Keller's body told her he couldn't be trusted, it wasn't until he turned around could she tell why. She knew that smug face instantaneously, she drew him! That was the bastard who shot Penelope! As soon as their eyes met through the glass Keller's whole body felt as though it'd been dipped in ice water. Swallowing hard, Keller slowing backed away from the door and went to go and find J.J.

She wished she'd been braver; she knew Hotchner's office was across the room, and she could see him walk out of it and over to the one next door. But that would mean she'd have to walk past that man, and from the way, his face had changed when he saw her, the cop knew she knew what he had done. Besides what the fuck could Keller do? Stab him in the eye with a pencil?

Keller went inside J.J.'s office out of breath, and she peeked through the blinds to see if she'd been followed. "Is everything OK?"

"He's here!" Keller almost shouted.

"Who?" J.J. asked getting up from her desk.

"The bastard who hurt Penelope!" Keller did shout that time.

"He's here? Are you positive?" J.J. questioned.

"I do not forget a face I've drawn. I think he knows I'm on to him," Keller said, she was starting to panic. "Can you shoot someone?"

"Excuse me?"

"Can you shoot someone J.J.? Because I'm getting all sorts of bad vibes from that guy, and I have a feeling, this shit is not going to end well, if we don't do something _now._ "

"You think he knows you know?" J.J. asked.

Keller nodded, not sure what that had to do with anything.

"I need you to do something for me," J.J. said.

"What?" Keller did like where this was going.

"Can you distract him?"

"How the fuck do you want me to do that?" Keller snapped.

"The bullpen is too crowded, for Hotch or Rossi to do anything if things go south. If someone can get behind him we may have a shot," J.J. explained.

"And I come in where?"

"All you have to do is walk across the bullpen to Hotch's office, if he suspects you are onto him, all his attention will be on you."

"I hate being bait," Keller groaned. Inhaling deeply, Keller put on her brave face and nodded at J.J. "Fuck it, let's go."

J.J. and Keller left the office J.J. stopped behind the wall so the "unsub," as everyone called him wouldn't see her. He was looking over his shoulder when Keller approached the door, but she refused to look at him as she pushed open the heavy glass door, she kept her gaze focused on Hotchner, who was walking slowly down the stairs with Rossi. Their eyes were trained on the officer. _They must know too._ Keller didn't know or care how her only goal was to make it to them.

She made it past two rows of desks, before someone roughly grabbed her hair, yanked her back on put an arm roughly against her throat making it hard to breathe, but that wasn't what had her terrified, it was the cold press of metal against te side of her head, that made her want to scream. That and the two guns she was staring down that were being held by Agents Rossi and Hotchner.

"Put the weapon down, and let her go," Hotchner commanded.

"You're a cop, and you know this isn't going to end well," Rossi responded.

"You're standing in the middle of the FBI," Hotchner added.

"You think I'm afraid of the FBI?" The cop shouted in Keller's ear. She really didn't like being a shield for this piece of shit. _Come on J.J!_

"We both know how this ends," Hotchner said. "This is the last time I will say this, lower your weapon and let the girl go."

"Best minds in the FBI," The cop scoffed, "You can't even save one little girl."

Keller saw Hotch glance overtop of the cops head, just as the sound of a gunshot went off, the arm around Keller's neck went limp, and she lunged away as the officer's body collapsed at her feet. Turning her head to look at J.J. who was slowly lowering her gun, Keller croaked, "Fucking took you long enough!"

Rossi came over the Keller, and took her by the elbow helping her to sit in a chair, "Are you OK?"

Keller didn't know how to answer, she'd just been a hostage, she'd been used a human shield, and she'd had a gun pressed to her skull, but she was unharmed other than the ringing in her ears. Keller thought she nodded, but that might have just been her shaking. Rossi stayed close; he'd put a paper cup of water in her hands, but she hadn't found the right motor skills to take a sip.

Everything seemed to happen in fast forward from that point, people milled around, made calls, someone shined a light in her eyes and said she was in shock. Keller wanted to call him a dumbass, but the words wouldn't come out, she heard Hotchner say they weren't to move her when someone grabbed her arm. She'd have to thank him later.

It wasn't until, a pair of green eyes came into her field of view did she move. Spencer looked so worried, his hands cover hers where she held the little cup of water, his mouth was moving, and Keller tried to read his lips. _Are you hot?_ _No._ Keller shook her head, she wasn't hot, if anything she was freezing, she wanted to ask them to turn the AC down.

Spencer cupped the back of her head and pulled her in close. She felt something wet of her face. _Damn it, Spencer. You made me spill my water._ But then she remembered him taking the cup from her hands while he tried to get her attention. Keller pulled back and touched her cheek; she was crying, again. "Shit," She whined, rubbing her face with her hands, trying to get the tears to stop.

But a sob broke loose, and Spencer embraced her again. "Shh," Spencer soothed, rubbing her back, and holding her tight, "You're safe." He kept saying that over and over again. Keller believed him too, as long as Spencer was with her, she was safe.

* * *

 **A/N:** Loooooong chapter! I hope it was worth it and that everyone liked it. Since Christmas is two days away, I want to do something a little special for my readers. My first thought was to do a couple of one-shots for you guys using your prompts, but I don't want to get to distracted from my writing. So what I'm going to do if you guys are up to it, is a Q and A. Comment any question you want to know, about me or the story, and I'll answer, as long as it doesn't give too much info away and ruin certain plot points. I think it'd be fun so, please leave me some questions, and I'll answer them as the next chapter ^^. Thank you all for reading!


	10. Chapter 10

**Spencer**

* * *

Fifteen minutes ago Garcia had "mysteriously" gotten access to someone's access codes for the BAU, from there she'd hacked into the surveillance systems. Jason Clark Battle was standing in the middle of the BAU bullpen. Reid swallowed hard, watching as Garcia cycled through the different camera angles. She paused on a camera that was positioned, so it faced the door outside the BUA office.

Reid's heart dropped, when he saw a particular black haired woman outside the door, her hand was placed on the handle, and she looked like she was going to go in, but something seemed to have caught her attention. Garcia switched camera angles again, and Reid wanted to growl in frustration, but Garcia must have known what she was doing for, she switched back and forth between the same two for what was about thirty seconds before she finally stopped on the one outside the office.

"Baby Girl, what is it?" Morgan asked.

"He sees her," Garcia stated horror in her voice.

It took Reid a moment to catch on too, but when he did, terror overcame him. Did he see Keller that night? Was he the unsub who was after her? Couldn't be the times of the crimes he committed didn't line up, with the murders in New York. That was an insignificant weight off Reid's shoulders. He watched as Keller turned quickly and walked away. The deputy took two steps as if to follow her but stopped seeming to come to his senses about following Keller. _Good._

Penelope followed Keller's path as she went to J.J.'s office, Reid could see through Keller's body language that she was shaken up about the unsub being there. Keller had sketched him; she knew he was the man who had harmed Garcia and from her expressive eyes, the unsub must know she was onto him. Reid watched as J.J. and Keller talked, wishing he was aware of what they were saying. During that time Morgan called Hotch.

Reid watched, his gaze was fixed on Keller, part of him wanted to shout anytime Garcia switched cameras to see what was going on in the bullpen, and this next time when she changed to J.J.'s office, neither woman was there. Garcia frantically searched cameras, and Reid had a white knuckle grip on the back of her sofa as he scanned for any sign of them. Eventually, though, Garcia found them walking back to the bullpen. _No no no no no no,_ Reid thought only able to watch as the unsub turned in time to see Keller's approach. However, J.J. tucked herself away behind the wall out of his sight. Her gun clutched in her hands.

"This is crazy we have to get own there!" Morgan shouted. Reid was on his feet in an instant and headed for the SUV.

Everyone piled in, and for once, Reid was thankful Morgan was such a reckless driver. It seemed to take an eternity before they reached their destination, their guns were drawn, and they made their way to the BAU bullpen. Reid scanned the area quickly, taking in all the necessary information. The unsub was no longer a threat, there was a tarp covering the body, no FBI agents seemed to be hurt, and most important Keller was unharmed.

Reid made to go over to her, but he was stopped by Hotch, who filled him in quickly on what had transpired over the twenty minutes it took them to get there. Reid approached her slowly and knelt down in front of her. Hotch had given her his jacket, but still, she quivered, making little ripples in the cup of water she held in her hands. Spencer gently slipped the cup from her hands and set it to the side.

"Keller?" He asked softly trying to capture her attention. Reaching out her wrapped his hands around hers and called her name once again, her eyes lifted to his, wide and wild. There was blood splatter on her face and her clothes, but Hotch's jacket hid most of that. "Are you hurt?"

She seemed to think for a moment before she shook her head slowly. Reid watched as Keller's visible eye welled up with tears that soon spilled over and rolled like liquid jewels down Keller's cheeks. Thinking quickly Spencer pulled her close to his chest, wanting to comfort her, but she wriggled free after a moment and touched the wet streaks under her eyes. Keller cursed under her breath and a small sob burst from her mouth, Reid pulled her in close again and held her whispering quietly to her.

Keller settled a short while later, leaning heavily on Reid's shoulder, her eyes were still moist, but for the most part, she seemed to have it under control. She wiped her hand across her eyes again, smudging the blood on her cheek. "Come on, I'll give you a ride home," Morgan said coming up to them.

Keller was like a zombie or a robot, her eyes dull and stance stiff and a bit clumsy as Spencer helped her out of her seat. Hotch jacket fell from her shoulders to the ground, and Hotch grabbed it quickly.

"I want everyone to take the next few days off," Hotch called to everyone, pulling his coat back on and leaving.

There seemed to be a collective sigh of relief amongst the team as they filed out ready to go home and get some rest. Spencer helped Keller into Morgan's car and got into the front seat. Keller was gazing dully out the window at the passing lights, and Reid wished her face gave more away like it normally did so he could know what she was feeling.

Up in the apartment, Keller had flopped face down on the couch while Spencer had hung his coat up. Spencer sat next to her on the arm and thought about what he wanted to say, but came up empty handed. Reid only watched her, curious if she had fallen asleep, it wouldn't shock him in the slightest, her whole world was spinning out of control, and he was the one who caused it. Reid had pulled her into this world of crime scenes photos and psychotic killers.

Sitting up, Keller sighed a bit and stood. Reid watched her leave and some time later heard the sound of running water. Getting up himself, Reid realized how tired he was, the rush of adrenaline had worn off, and he was ready for sleep. Reid had changed into his pajamas and read half a book. He probably could have finished the whole thing, but his mind was elsewhere, and the sound of the shower was still going strong. The worry for Keller made it impossible to get any sleep, getting up Spencer tentatively went to the bathroom door and knocked softly.

There was no answer. _She probably didn't hear._ Cracking the door open Reid squeezed his eyes shut just in case, Keller was getting out and was nude. "Keller?" Still, no one answered him, and Reid opened his eyes slowly, glancing around his bathroom. Walking deeper into the small dimly lit room, Spencer stood in front of the shower. He could see Keller's dark silhouette behind the curtain. But being a gentleman, or in this case a man with common decency, Reid couldn't just rip the curtain open. So he sat on the bathmat, and asked: "Are you OK?"

The sound of water hitting the porcelain tub became louder, and Reid heard the crinkling sound of his plastic shower curtain, he didn't turn and jumped a little when thin arms, cold from the spray of chilled water wrapped around his neck. Keller rested her forehead against his scapula and breathed out her answer, her soft voice lacking any emotion, "I don't know."

Reid knew what that was like, thinking back to his first crime scene, his first kill, where after everything was said and done, he knew that he should feel _something_ but had no idea what, or just couldn't process his emotions. Reid was relaxed against the back of the tub; he'd lifted one of his hands to stroke Keller's arm in a comforting gesture. The only sounds were of Keller's breathing next to his ear and the runner water, which had long turned cold, but Keller didn't seem to care. The left side of his shirt was soaked from Keller's hair where she'd draped it over the front of her shoulder, but Reid didn't mind.

"Close your eyes, Spencer," Keller ordered. Ried did as he was told and waited. The knobs of the shower squeaked, and the water stopped, Keller's footfalls were light and almost inaudible on the floor as she got her towel from the hook on the bathroom door. "Give my five minutes to get changed?"

Reid opened his eyes when he heard the door close and mentally counted to three hundred, and he hoped it was enough time and entered his bedroom. Keller was sitting on his bed, wearing one of his shirts, and drying her long tresses with her towel. Reid felt something between his legs stiffen at the sight, of her tousled hair, the way she'd only buttoned two of the buttons on the shirt showing off her cleavage and her legs which were tucked next to her. Swallowing hard Reid rapped his knuckles against the wall letting her know he was there. Keller's head jerked up, and she did the uppermost button of the shirt.

"Sorry, I couldn't find my sleep top," Keller explained, combing her fingers through her hair in a nervous manner.

"It's fine," Reid said, walking over to the bed, trying not to think of what Keller might look like after a romp in the sheet, and cover his growing erection. Spencer sat at the edge of his bed and thought of things he didn't find sexually appealing, so Keller didn't get poked if she got too close. He his bed shifted as Keller came closer to him, Reid let out a long sigh and dropped his head forward. Her nimble little fingers began to press against the base of his neck and up to his hairline, and back down to his shoulders.

Reid could feel the tension slowly leaving his tired muscles as Keller expertly pushed and pulled the different muscles, "If I feel like shit, I can't imagine what you must feel like," Spencer shuddered, feeling that her lips were right next to his ear, her warm breath brushing his face. Reid opened his mouth to respond, but whatever he was going to say became lost when Keller's right thumb hit the sweet spot, midway down his neck near his spine, and all that came out of his mouth was a low groan of pleasure.

Keller made a soft sound behind him, similar to a cats purr, and pressed her mouth against the side of his neck, "I want to hear you make that sound again." If Reid was a weaker man, he might have taken her up on that offer. Spencer could only imagine what Keller might look like, splayed out upon his bed, what her flesh would feel like pressed against his, her taste, her smell, the sounds she might produce. When Keller moved, breaking off all contact, Reid internally shook his head at himself and pulled away from the delusions.

Looking over his shoulder at the young woman Spencer could see that Keller and lying on her right side, making impossible to see through her fringe of dark hair. Reid reached out and touched her hairline, trailing his fingers across her forehead, moving just enough hair so he could see her right eye. Keller peered up at him sullenly before placing a hand on his chest and forcing him into a horizontal position; she then scooted over and laid her head on his chest.

Reid put his arm around her shoulders, an action that was becoming more and more natural. He could feel the tension she was holding, maybe she wasn't as OK as she wanted him to believe, but he knew if he pushed too hard, Keller would shut the whole conversation down. Reid would just have to be patient and wait for her to open up.

"Spencer?"

Reid cleared his throat, "Yeah?"

"Will you read to me until I fall asleep?" Keller asked, her voice quavering a bit.

"I, uh, ye-yeah. What, um, what did you, ahem, what did you have in mind? I have lots of books. There's um," Reid began speaking very fast, listing off all the books he could think of and gave brief descriptions.

He rambled for nearly a full three minutes before Keller lifted her hand and gently pressed her fingers against his lips. "Shh, it doesn't matter, I just want to hear your voice, so while I'm trying to fall asleep, I have something else to focus on, besides the memory of that bastard's arm around my neck while pressing a gun to my head."

"Right, right, right, um, let's see," Reid did his best not to disturb Keller reaching one arm over the side of his bed and feeling around for a book he'd either stacked nearby or one that may have fallen out of his hand if he fell asleep reading. He picked up four different ones and set them back down, trying to find something that Keller might enjoy. Reaching under his bed as much as he could, Reid's hand brushed over an old hardcover book, pulling it out Reid read the cover, "Did you still want me to read _Dante's_ _In_ _ferno_ to you?"

There was a pause, and then Reid felt Keller nod her head against his chest. Flipping to the first page Spencer began to read quietly, his free hand still rubbing her back and shoulders, every so often running his fingers through her hair. Reid didn't know when she fell asleep, but he read nearly half the book before he fell asleep mid-sentence letting the book clatter to the floor.

In his slumber, Reid tightened his arm protectively around Keller. He had no idea what he would have done had she been harmed in any way; it was becoming more apparent to him and possibly to the team that he was beginning to have feelings other than the initial sexual attraction to her. He was starting to understand why Garcia sometimes grumbled about how she hated profilers.

When Reid in the morning, Keller was still curled up in his arms, sleeping soundly, as slowly and quietly as he could, Reis moved out from under her and tucked her back under the blankets. Leaning over Spencer kissed her sleeping head as if it was the most normal thing in the world before he went to take a shower, he hadn't yesterday, and he could still feel the grime of the latest case on him. Keller was still snoozing away when Spencer came back into their room, and he changed into a pair of dark jeans and a burgundy button-down shirt, always checking over his shoulder in case Keller woke up.

Going out to the kitchen Reid went about brewing a pot of french roast coffee, and he'd been planning on bringing Keller a cup, but she was still asleep an hour later when Reid peeked at her. _She always cooks for me,_ Reid thought, going to the kitchen to get himself another cup of coffee, _Why don't I make her breakfast?_

Looking through his fridge, Reid pulled out a carton of eggs; he'd seen Keller crack eggs one handed twenty-three times, and was sure he could do it himself; he was wrong, and more egg shell than egg ended up in the frying pan. Cleaning the egg off the floor, Spencer rinsed the pan out and tried again. Failed again, but this time no egg got on the ground. Using a fork to pick out the bits of shell, Spencer waited a minute before he went to flip the egg, and realized he'd forgotten to butter the pan, making it impossible to get the spatula under the food. He ended up breaking the egg into bits as he scraped what he could from the pan, leaving behind burned bits. He ate that one and crunched on a few eggshells. _I'll just leave the cooking to someone who knows how._

After the third cup of coffee and two books, Reid was beginning to get a bit worried. It was close to mid-afternoon and Keller still hadn't gotten out of bed. Reid decided to check to make sure Keller was alright. Cracking the door open just enough to poke his head in, Reid saw Keller was sitting on the edge of the bed, looking down at the floor. "Hey."

Her head lifted slowly, "Hey."

"How are you feeling?" Reid asked.

"I'm getting real tired of the question Spencer," Keller sounded annoyed, "But I think I'm OK. At the end of the day, I made it out mostly unscathed. I'm alive, and that's more than I can say for Sherrif Dickweed."

"We keep a trauma therapist on staff at the BAU if you wanted to talk to someone," Spencer said.

"Thanks, but I'd rather talk to you," Keller replied, her voice so quiet Reid almost didn't catch what she said. "What did you burn?" A quick subject change, Keller wasn't ready to talk yet, and Reid wouldn't press her.

"I tried to make eggs," Reid admitted, thinking he should have opened a window if Keller could still smell burning food.

Keller looked extremely baffled, "You are the genius working with the FBI, and you can't make eggs?"

Reid grinned sheepishly and shrugged.

"Jesus Christ," Keller muttered. "If you can't even cook an egg, then what the hell do you eat?"

"I get take out a lot, and there are some new places I'd like to try if you want to go with me," Reid gave her a pleading look.

"Fine, but I don't eat anything raw," Keller agreed. Spencer was thankful for that, while he did enjoy Asian cuisine after what he'd been through two years ago, he still couldn't tolerate the smell or taste of fish in any capacity. "First, though, breakfast and coffee."

Reid followed her out of the room, having to pry his eyes away from her perky rump which his shirt barely covered, and he was too embarrassed to mention to Keller that she should change. But she went about her "morning" as if everything was perfectly normal, making herself a cup of coffee and, frying up some eggs and bacon, which she used to make sandwiches after Spencer told her it was closer to lunch time.

Watching her movements, Reid noticed Keller often went into dazes in which she would stare at nothing for between five and seven seconds, and then she'd scrunch her eyebrows and shake off whatever she was feeling or thinking and go back to the task at hand. Reid desperately wanted to know what she was thinking, what she felt, but if he attempted to use interrogation tactics on her, Reid worried about what might happen.

It was quiet in Spencer's apartment, and he had no trouble detecting sounds, especially when Keller starting singing under her breath. He could hear any specific words but turning his head to watch her, he saw her nodding her head and dancing slowly. Keller caught Reid watching her and smiled, her cheeks turning a bit pink. "Sorry."

"N-no! I liked watching you! I mean, I saw you, I, uh, didn't mean t-to, um stare," Reid stopped talking when he that realized he was only digging his hole deeper.

"It's OK, Spencer. I don't mind at all, sometimes I don't realize when I'm doing it, and after everything that's happened this past week, I'm a little spacey," Keller let out a short laugh and ran a hand through her hair, fluffing it up a bit.

Reid smiled at her, and she was almost as awkward as he could be at times. It was odd when it came to her wearing clothes that were extremely revealing she was as confident as could be, but social interaction that wasn't physical in nature made her nervous and kept her on her toes. But then again Keller did have an aversion to being touched but he was beginning to learn that if she initiated, she was OK, it was her way of giving non-verbal permission. Reid had noticed that he was the only person who could walk on her left side without her tensing up and the only one who could walk up and touch her without her recoiling or glaring at him. It was something that pleased him to no end.

"You know, Spencer, while I do love your apartment, I think we should go out," Keller suggested.

"Y-yeah, where did you want to go?" Spencer asked.

"I figured you could show me around," Keller explained. Reid nodded, his mind already coming up with places he could show her, where they could eat and the quickest ways they could get there. "I can see the gears spinning, so I'm going to go put pants on," Keller chuckled to herself as she left, ruffling his hair which was still slightly damp as she passed by him.

Keller came back seventeen minutes later, she'd donned a purple, and black plaid mini skirt with two sets of chain weaving through the belt loops, a plain black long sleeve shirt, one sleeve was made out of lace and fishnet tights. Keller had her hands in her hair twisting the long strands into a braid that started near her fringe and wrapped around her head until it draped over her right shoulder. "Do I look cute?"

Reid cleared his throat and turned his attention elsewhere. He'd been staring open-mouthed at Keller, and she'd caught him. But he nodded his confirmation to her question, even if "cute" paled in comparison to how breathtakingly stunning she was. Reid didn't have any experience with women like her. She was a wild card who broke the rules, didn't care much what others thought and did what she wanted.

"You ready?" Keller was bent at the waist zipping up her knee high boots.

Reid got off the couch and went over to the door, he slipping on his black and white converse sneakers and a dark gray jacket. "Ready."

Keller hooked her arm through Spencer's and let him lead her around the area. He took her to his favorite coffee shop, bookstores, they even took the subway to a park where he went to play chess. Reid showed Keller around for hours until he caught the sound of her stomach rumbling and asked if she wanted to get something to eat and head back home.

"Fuck yeah," Keller said grinning, "Can we go somewhere with a bar? It's been a hell of a week, and we could both use a shot. Or in my case nine, though my record is fourteen."

"Fourteen shots?" Reid asked.

"Mm-hmm, and then I projectile vomited on the bartender, and he cut me off, for a whole week. Which is why I don't drink dirt cheap tequila anymore," Keller went on grinning.

"I'll stop you at five," Reid told Keller, and she pouted at him, before laughing.

"As long as you don't make me do a sobriety test in the middle of the road, swear to god that cop was hoping I'd tip over and get hit by a car," Keller muttered.

Spencer didn't know if she was joking or not, but soon he located a nice bar where he and his team sometimes came to unwind after a case. Keller did a quick scan and sat at the corner of the bar, leaving a seat for Reid on her left. A young waitress came over and jotted down their order, Reid recognized her, and she gave him a familiar smile. "First time you had alcohol?" Keller asked she spun around on the barstool so she could look at him.

"It was a glass of wine," Reid started out.

"Classy," Keller commented.

"Five minutes before I turned twenty-one," He finished.

Keller snorted and shook her head at him, "Jeez, that's boring as hell."

"How so? I was underaged still," Reid asked.

"Yeah, if you want to be technical you were, but there was next to no risk. Drinking underage is going to a party, when someone's parents are out of town, getting fucking shit faced and waking up in the woods wearing someone else's pants, and half your head is shaved," Keller explained, her blue eyes shining with mischief.

Reid could only imagine what sort of trouble she must have gotten into in her youth. "How old were you when you first started drinking?"

"I was fourteen," Keller said, "I was just a messed up kid trying to fit it. Did a lot of shit I shouldn't have, but I learned, more or less."

"Do you regret any of it?" Reid asked, there food had arrived and Keller had a mouthful of french fries that had been soaked in cheese, sour cream and had bacon sprinkled over the top.

Keller used the time to chew and swallow to think about her answer, "Nope. Most days I like how I turned out."

Reid and Keller continued to talk, Reid found out the reason Keller didn't like sushi was that on a dare she'd swallowed live goldfish, saying she could feel them swimming around in her belly and true to his word he had the bartender stop giving her alcohol after five beverages. Last call came around, and Spencer helped Keller off her stool, she was a little intoxicated and had some trouble walking straight, but Reid kept a had on her for support.

At the apartment, Keller went right to the bedroom, Reid was sure he hadn't seen her drink any water and he knew the discomfort of waking up with a hangover. He poured a tall glass and dropped som ice cubes it.

Keller hadn't changed but was covered up and fluffing her pillow; she smiled at his approach. Spencer passed her the glass which she downed in seconds. "Thank you."

"Can I get you anything else?"

"I'm good," Keller said.

"Alright, I'm going to go take my jacket off, and I'll be right back," Reid reached out and touched her cheek, it was meant to be a quick action, but the way Keller nuzzled her face against Spencer's hand and covered it with hers made him linger. Using his thumb, Reid stroked the edge of her cheekbone and pulled away.

Stuffing his hands in his jacket pockets, Reid left the room and kicked his shoes off by the door. Feeling around in his pocket Reid pulled out a slip of paper from the bar, he thought it was probably his receipt but when he flipped it over there was a note written in purple ink, the penmanship leaned toward a female writer.

 _You two make a cute couple._

The message made Spencer smile, and he tucked the piece of paper back in his pocket for safe keeping.


	11. A Note

_**A/N:**_ I'm not dead! I've just been super pissed off and stressed. So I had the next chapter all set and ready to go, but because of either a computer or site error, I lost a section that was about 10,000 words long. Which was super frustrating, to say the least, and honestly, I don't really like (hate) the episode the chapter was based around. So what my plan is going forward is that I'm going to touch on it a little in the next chapter, but I'm not going to rewrite it. But I'm back in the writing mood, and the chapter should be up sometime next week.

Also, I have a new pet in the house! Which is one of the only good things to happen these last few months.

This note will be deleted when the new chapter is out ^^


End file.
